Unforeseeable Darkness
by rrand06
Summary: After nightmarish two years on a planet of monsters, Andros returns to the Astrorangers a changed man, one that the new rangers aren't sure that they want to endure... except Ashley. Power Rangers does not belong to me.
1. Chapter 1

Ch 1

"Andros, look out behind you!" the Silver Ranger called out just as a large group of quantrons gathered behind the Red Ranger.

Andros quickly spun around, ready to strike at them with his Spiral Saber. Recently, fighting quantrons had become part of the two rangers' daily routine but they had never had so many fight them at once –not since Dark Specter's invasion of KO-35 three months earlier. Their home planet had been completely abandoned since then and the rangers wondered why Dark Specter chose to attack it now. There was nothing left to gain from KO-35, save the victory of conquering the planet itself.

As Andros knocked down the first two footsoldiers that came at him, he heard Zhane's voice among the robotic buzzing of the quantrons.

"There's too many of them," Zhane said as he blasted a group of quantrons with his Super Silverizer.

"We've got to head back to the ship."

"Right," Andros agreed as a quantron swung his weapon at him, just barely missing his head. He ducked but another quantron struck at his back, knocking him to the ground. He reached down for his Astro Blaster but found its holster empty, looking up in time to see a quantron wave it teasingly in front of his face. Andros attempted to make a grab for it, but was struck from behind by another quantron. The group that had begun to swell behind the Red Ranger was suddenly on top of him, pinning him down on the planet's hard surface with their metal bodies.

Zhane ran toward them, activating the release of his Super Silverizer's blade, but was held off by a group of quantrons that appeared behind him at that moment. Zhane kicked one away, knocking it into the few quantrons that were behind it. As they struggled back to their feet, the Silver Ranger struck them with his Super Silverizer, sending them back down. When they stood up again, they disappeared as quickly as they had appeared, leaving the Silver Ranger standing alone in defeat staring at his best friend's fallen Spiral Saber.

Andros continued to struggle against the collective weight of the quantrons. He was finally pulled to his feet, finding himself face-to-face with Dark Specter.

"Welcome, Red Ranger," the large monster growled smugly. "So nice of you to drop in."

Andros looked around, realizing suddenly that he was on Dark Specter's ship. All over the walls and floor of the bridge there were spatters of blood, likely a mixture of his and the other Astrorangers'. Although it had been at least a month since he had been on the ship, the blood still seemed fresh from where he stood. He turned back to Dark Specter, distracting himself from the memories that immediately began to overwhelm him.

"Whatever your plan is this time, you won't get away with it," Andros shouted, still struggling against the quantrons that gripped his arms and shoulders. He had never had trouble freeing his arms from quantrons before. They were certainly much stronger than usual.

"My plan is already well in motion, Red Ranger, as you will see once you make the decision to join me," Dark Specter replied.

"_Join_ you?" Andros scoffed. "You've got a better chance of becoming a ranger than getting one to join you."

Dark Specter laughed. "I had a feeling that you'd see it that way… Tell me, Red Ranger, have you ever heard of the planet Omni-8? There are some creatures there that would greatly appreciate another human play-thing for an eternity or two… So the decision is yours. Join me or become a servant to the Cromians of Omni-8."

"I _won't_ join you," Andros growled.

"So be it," Dark Specter growled back, enveloping the Red Ranger in a bright light. When the light disappeared, Andros found himself standing before a large group of tall overly muscular brown scaly creatures with large, elongated ivory skulls. One of the creatures stepped forward just as two others grabbed the ranger's arms.

"We've been expecting you, Red Ranger," it said in a deep gruff voice, stepping closer to him and boring his glowing yellow eyes into the ranger.

Andros tried to free himself from the Cromians that held him, hoping that they weren't as strong as they looked. But they held tightly onto his arms and for a moment Andros feared that they would rip them from his body. But once the Cromian in front of him was less than a foot away from him, they loosened their grip on him.

"You'd do well to demorph, Red Ranger," it said. "You cannot fight us all and win."

All? Andros looked around at what seemed like hundreds of Cromians surrounding him on all sides, staring at him with angry eyes. There was definitely no chance of escape now. At least, there was no chance of escaping alive anyway.

"So allow us the pleasure of seeing the pathetic creature that would devote itself to trying to win the senseless battle of good versus evil." The Cromian stepped closer to him still, ready to grab at him at the first instance of insurgence.

"And why should I?" Andros asked defiantly.

"Because I also want the pleasure of seeing the pain in your eyes when I do this," it snarled back, placing one of its large hands around Andros' throat and sending a surge of electricity through the ranger's body.

Andros groaned in pain as he clawed against the creature's hold on him, the steady stream of volts traveling down his spine. Just as he began to feel his skin heating beneath his suit, he involuntarily demorphed.

"You can expect your pain to increase regularly if this is the behavior we are to expect from you." The Cromian released Andros from his grip and allowed him to fall to the ground.

Andros looked around as he heard a rumble of voices surrounding him. The dimly lit cave suddenly brightened and the voices grew louder. They appeared to be in a coliseum, with what now seemed like one thousand Cromians shouting and staring at the now helpless and demorphed Red Ranger.

"He looks like any other human to me," a Cromian's voice shouted. "Let me keep him! Twenty sansas for him!"

"I'll give you fifty sansas for him," another called out.

"He's not worth that much. We don't even know what he can do yet! Ten sansas!"

The voices of the protesting Cromians echoed throughout the stadium. Andros looked around angrily as they continued to yell out higher and lower prices. The noise was only subdued by a loud guttural shriek that pierced through the crowd.

"The Red Ranger goes with me," a deeper voice growled and a much larger Cromian stepped forward. "No charge."

Andros looked up fearlessly at the red-skulled monster and stood up. "And just when I'd hoped you guys couldn't get any uglier," he spat.

The Cromian growled angrily and stood even closer to Andros. "I won't make the mistake of underestimating you, Red Ranger. I know very well what you're capable of," it said, clutching at Andros' gray uniform jacket with one massive hand while snatching the morpher from his wrist and crushing it with the other. "I see, however, that your mouth will be a problem for you. We'll have to find a way to correct that…"

-0-0-0-0-0-

(On the Astro Megaship)

"DECA, scan the next sector," Zhane ordered the artificial intelligence unit.

"Scanning sector R-zero-zero-one-dash-three," DECA announced. "Estimated scan time, twenty-five minutes."

"We don't have that kind of time," Zhane said, trying not to shout. "If Dark Specter has Andros, he's probably half-way across the universe by now."

"Current estimated scan time, twenty-four minutes and forty seconds," DECA announced, seemingly unfazed by the Silver Ranger's increasing frustration.

Zhane slammed his fists down onto the console in front of him and let out a long breath. "DECA, can't you do multiple searches at one time?" he asked impatiently.

"Multiple long range scans take several hours to complete," DECA informed. "Current estimated scan time, twenty-three minutes and fifty-five seconds."

Zhane sat down at his control station with a sigh, looking over at the empty center seat that should have seated his best friend. "Isn't there anything that I can do?" he asked, suddenly overwhelmed by the feeling of uselessness that seemed now to course through his veins as he covered his face with his hands.

"You should be able to manually scan individual sectors outside of the range that I am currently scanning. It should not interfere with the current scan time," DECA said.

Zhane quickly composed himself, wiping away the tears that had begun to sting his eyes. But he only seemed to cause irritation that allowed more tears to form and fall down his face. He yelled out in frustration as he continued to scrub his eyes with the back of his hand, softly muttering a sequence of curse words that even DECA had not heard of. When the tears finally stopped and his vision returned, he pressed a few buttons and sighed again.

"DECA, which sectors are you scanning?" he asked again.

"R-zero-zero-one-dash-three," DECA replied, still unable to respond to Zhane's various spurts of emotion.

"Okay. Then I'll start scanning R-one-zero-zero-dash-zero." Zhane pressed the buttons in front of him, staring down helplessly at the tiny screen before him, impatiently tapping his fingers on the console.

"Zhane, it is important not to panic in these situations," DECA answered. "Your increasingly unstable emotional level could result in your own capture. You must focus on Andros' safe return and trust that he will be found alive."

"Dark Specter killed the other four rangers, DECA," Zhane said, pushing away the distant screams that he had heard from Dark Specter's ship not so long ago. "I doubt that he would hesitate to kill Andros."

"There is a fifty-four percent probability that Andros will be found virtually unharmed," DECA stated.

Zhane looked up at the small black camera's red light and rolled his eyes. "Virtually? And how exactly did you come up with that?"

"If Dark Specter has Andros, he will most likely use Andros to get to you," DECA explained. "Therefore, Andros' death would leave Dark Specter at a disadvantage, having no direct means to draw you out. On the other hand, if Andros is killed, your anger would most likely lead you to wanting revenge against Dark Specter, thereby drawing you out still. And given your current emotional state, you would likely be killed by Dark Specter -"

"Is this your way of trying to cheer me up?" Zhane asked irately, resting his head in his arms on the console in front of him.

He knew that he should not have gotten angry with DECA. She was only responding the way that she was programmed to. But Zhane couldn't remember the last time he had felt so helpless. He knew that DECA was right, that Andros was probably still alive for now. Even though Dark Specter had become unnecessarily ruthless in the past year or so, he had passed on several opportunities to destroy the Red Ranger.

But it was important not to panic, as DECA had rightly pointed out. He had to think positively now and have faith that he would be reunited with his best friend. But if he was destined to have as much luck as he and Andros had trying to find his sister Karone, he wasn't sure how long that hope would last.

_No_, Zhane thought, thinking of what Andros had repeated whenever Zhane's impatient nature forced him to ask why he bothered searching for his sister after so many years, _I'll never stop searching_.

More than ever, he decided, it was time to take a lesson from Andros. It was way too early to give up. He would have to fight until Andros was by his side again. He was sure that his impatience would never fade, but he would search until he found his friend.

Zhane lifted his head from his arms and looked up sadly at DECA's steady red light. "How long until the scan is complete again?"

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Go on, Red Ranger," Andros heard his Cromian master growl, just barely audible over the other monsters that filled the coliseum. They shouted and jumped as they impatiently waited for the Red Ranger to make a move.

Andros stood by his master, afraid to move as he looked across the coliseum and sized up his opponent carefully. He had seen this monster coming a mile away and he knew that this fight would be different than any other fight he had ever been in. First of all, he didn't have any rangers waiting in the shadows to bail him out this time. Secondly, his opponent was almost three times his size in both height and girth. That would not have been an issue had it not been for the first problem, and he knew that he would be fighting alone.

Just as he allowed his nerves to get the better of him, he felt something sharp pierce his arm. Andros looked over at the Cromian who slowly pulled a prehistoric-looking syringe out of his arm. Yes, this fight would be very different. As a screeching alarm sounded, the monsters in the coliseum cheered loudly and the lights dimmed. Andros blinked furiously as the lights continued to grow dimmer, trying to adjust his eyes to whatever remained of the light. But his eyes continued to open to darkness as he began to scrub his eyes with his arm. Whatever was in that syringe had blinded him.

The alarm finally ended and he stood still when he felt the charging footsteps of his opponent coming toward him. He was able to dodge him with a simple sidestep but the small victory was short-lived as the wild swipes of a sword cut the air. Andros blindly backed away, clumsily stepping backward until his back hit a wall and he fell forward onto the ground. He quickly got to his feet, hearing the rushing footsteps again. He listened for the sound of the sword, waiting for his opponent to strike before he moved.

Finally, he felt the sword coming toward him, another sloppy swipe coming from the right, and he spun quickly to the left. The weapon hit the wall that he clung to a few inches from his head and he was immediately aware of the dull sound that emanated from the sword when it connected. Andros knew the sound well –metal hitting metal. Only the far right wall was completely metal while the surrounding walls were solid rock. But just barely knowing where he was did not help much.

Andros made his way back to the center of the coliseum where he was sure that he had noticed a shield earlier. But the sword swiped at his feet, sending him down again. Andros gritted his teeth and rolled to one side, avoiding the vicious blade and reaching for the shield that he knew would be close by. He grabbed it and held it up above him as he heard the sword come at him from above. The sword crashed violently through the shield, shattering it into what felt like a million pieces. He should have known that the shield would be a waste. He fights an opponent with a weapon while unarmed himself. Why would the only protection available be useful to the fighter that the Cromians wanted destroyed?

Andros rolled back to where he had been, trying to ignore the tiny pieces of metal that were sticking him all over his arms and face as well as the blood that he felt dripping down his them. He scrambled to his feet and made his way to the other side of the coliseum, feeling for the nearest wall. As he ran, he realized that he had never fought this badly before and he would die unless he let all of his training come back to him. It had only been hours since he had last fought a monster. Why was his mind failing him now? He rubbed his eyes again, knowing that he would have a much better advantage if he could get even the smallest glimpse at this monster.

Around him, the Cromians' shouts grew louder, the monsters voicing their rage at the brief inactivity of the fighters. Andros stayed close to the wall again, waiting for the sounds of the sword again. Within seconds, he felt the charging footsteps and heard the sword. It was coming from the same direction as before. He took a chance, ducking under the sword and grabbing it from his opponent, shoving it forcefully into the stone wall. Surprisingly, it cut through and held tightly. He would have settled for breaking the sword, but this was just as good.

He heard his opponent growl, fighting hand-to-hand with him for what felt like an eternity. Andros had never fought anyone at such a high skill level before and was surprised that he got in the few kicks that he did. But it was not enough bloodshed for the Cromians who began to throw things at the fighters in anger, shouting for one of them to finish the fight. Andros took control of the fight and moved back toward the sword in the wall, wondering if he could actually use it without his sight. Swinging it wildly did not work for the monster, so he would have to think of another strategy.

But he put out his hand for the sword anyway, pulling it back out of the wall when he felt the charging steps coming toward him. It was stuck tightly and Andros' head connected with the stone wall before he could tighten his grip on the sword. He avoided a second collision with the wall and allowed his opponent's fist to hit the wall, hoping that it would disable the fighter long enough for him to grab the sword. Maybe if Andros could just make it known that he had the sword, he would not have to use it. Make the enemy afraid to lose and disable the enemy without killing him were the first two lessons he learned as a ranger. If only he could just pull the stupid thing out of the wall.

Andros yanked at the sword, listening for movement behind him. Finally, he felt it loosen a bit and he pulled at it, rocking it back and forth within the crack that the sword's blade had created in the wall. With one last effort, he pulled the sword from the wall and brought it forward. Instantly, he felt the sword grow heavier and he lowered it, feeling the weight slide to the tip of the sword. The Cromians cheered wildly and another alarm sounded. Andros' eyesight slowly returned to him and he focused on the light that the sword shined into his eyes. His eyes widened as he watched the body of his opponent slide off the end of the sword and he dropped the weapon, shaking his head in disbelief as he backed away.

He had been right. This fight had been very different. It was a fight to the death and he fought it alone using a weapon that he had held in his hands for less than a minute. His eyes focused on the mountain of muscles that waited on the other side of the coliseum, the Cromian that he had seen coming, the Cromian that he had expected to destroy him. Then he looked down at his true opponent, the one that the Cromians had deduced he would never willingly fight. He had destroyed monsters in the past but this was different… because this monster was not a monster.

This was a human.


	2. Chapter 2

Ch 2

"Get up, Red Ranger!" The red-skulled Cromian's voice rang in his ears.

Andros looked up weakly at his opponent, dropping his head on the ground and closing his eyes as he awaited the final blow. The fight had gone on long enough and it seemed as though he had spent most of it on the ground.

"Get up!" he heard again, receiving a hard kick to his side.

Andros groaned softly but did not move from lying on his back. He stared up at the ceiling of the cave, the shouts of the Cromians growing louder as he closed his eyes again. A sharp blow to the abdomen opened them again as he felt the tip of a sword enter his flesh.

"You've one last chance, Red Ranger," his opponent said, pushing the sword in an inch deeper. "You will stand and fight me or you will die."

Then, I will die, Andros thought, staring angrily at his Cromian owner.

The red-skulled Cromian pushed away the opponent, taking hold of the sword and pulling it out of Andros. "Do you honestly believe that you will be rewarded with death for such stupidity?" it growled angrily. "You will die when I am ready for you to die, and I promise that I will be the one to kill you myself. Until then, you will follow orders. Now get up, Red Ranger."

Andros lay silently, turning his head away from his so-called master, hoping the wound was deep enough to allow him to bleed to death. But he could already feel it healing and he slowly got to his feet. Death wouldn't rescue him from this planet. Until then, he could at least try to keep his pain to a minimum.

"Now, take your weapon." His master held out the sword to him, still stained with Andros' blood.

Andros stared angrily at the sword as though it had been the one that had wronged him, but he took it. He glanced at the tip of the blade, watching his blood drip onto the ground. He wished to tear into the Cromian's flesh with it, but he knew that he could never accomplish such a feat, especially with so many others around him already itching to do the same to him.

"Now, lift your weapon and fight," the Cromian growled.

The blade of the sword was pointed toward the Cromian's face, but his master never flinched, only pulling Andros' opponent in front of him. Andros felt the remaining blood on the blade drip down onto his hand but kept his eyes on his opponent, whose weapon was much larger.

"Your move, Red Ranger," Andros heard him say and he narrowed his eyes.

He would stay alive as long as he could. He wouldn't just lay down and die. People were counting on him. Zhane was counting on him. He would be found alive as long as he could help it.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Zhane let out a loud yawn, the only thing that kept him awake at the moment. He struggled to keep his eyes open, shifting in his seat and trying to shake himself awake. He sat up straighter in his seat and stifled another yawn, unable to ignore the soreness in his lower back.

"It is already late, Zhane. Would you like to continue?" DECA asked.

"Yes," he answered without hesitation. He had been searching sectors on and off all day, and he wasn't about to stop now. They had only just reached the last planets in this new galaxy, whatever it was called.

But he had been sitting there for quite some time without even standing up to stretch. He wondered how long he had been on the bridge that day, only because he and DECA had just barely reached the end of this mostly empty galaxy, still with no sign of Andros.

"Approximately fifteen hours." DECA answered.

He could have sworn that he had said that last part in his head. Zhane stood up and stretched, letting the next yawn come. For once, it had actually felt like eight hours had passed, but that was probably because he was tired. He hadn't had a good night's sleep in weeks.

"Yeah, I think I'll keep going," he said after a moment.

"Would it not be best to eat something before beginning your search again?" DECA inquired.

Zhane looked up at the nearest camera, surprised at the undertone of sincere concern he heard in her voice. But he had only eaten one meal that day and several hours had passed since he had started the search that day. He suddenly felt light-headed at the mention of food.

"You're probably right." Zhane sighed deeply and put down the chart in his hand. He walked from the bridge to the workbay, wondering what he felt like eating. Because he hadn't had much to eat all day, his stomach had begun to distract him, angrily growling at him for good food or, at the very least, anything edible.

As he approached the synthetron, he smiled to himself a little as he remembered the last good meal he'd had. It had been a large slice of poroli with a side of leli-tems, his absolute favorite. But his smile quickly faded as he remembered that it was Andros' favorite too. He angrily slammed his palms against the synthetron and sighed in frustration. He couldn't even find peace in eating anymore.

He had lost more than a fair amount of weight in the past year because of thoughts like that and he could feel the effects that not eating and sleeping less had brought him. He was much weaker than he had ever been now and even fighting quantrons had become a challenge for him.

His intention had been to get stronger, not weaker. Only with increased strength would he be able to defeat Dark Specter and get his best friend back. And he'd only get weaker and weaker if he didn't start eating and sleeping well.

Zhane let out another breath, letting his body relax and clearing his mind of all the terrible thoughts that plagued him.

"Focus, Zhane," he said aloud to himself. "Just get something to eat while you have the chance to eat it."

He pressed a few buttons on the synthetron, deciding on the poroli after all. He couldn't keep screwing with his head with thoughts of Andros. He and DECA would find Andros and he would be just fine. Just a few hundred thousand galaxies to go…

"DECA?" Zhane began as he picked up his fork and prodded it in and out of his food for a while. "How long have we been searching for Andros?"

"Approximately five hundred and seventeen days," DECA replied.

Zhane stopped playing with his food and brought a small piece to his mouth. He had forgotten how good food could taste. "And how many galaxies have we ruled out so far?"

"Thirty-six."

Only thirty-six? It made sense though, since he would often be distracted by monster attacks and the like whenever he felt close enough to getting a lead on Andros' whereabouts. And he still had the rest of the universe ahead of him to search.

Zhane put down his fork and put his head down on the table face-down. "DECA," Zhane's voice wavered a little, afraid to ask what he already knew. "How many total galaxies are there in the universe?"

"There are over one hundred billion galaxies in the observable universe."

That was a bit of a dream-killer. Zhane let out a moan as he banged his head on the table twice. It wasn't nearly as painful as the thought that he might never find Andros even if he searched for the next fifty years of his life.

Zhane lifted his head from the table and shook the thought from his head. It was important to stay positive, even if it had been over a whole year. He'd have to live long enough to see the day he'd reunite with Andros, but one thing at a time. He needed to try to build up his strength again and he would start by finishing his meal, he thought as he brought a forkful of food to his mouth.

"Incoming transmission from approaching unidentified spacecraft." DECA said urgently, interrupting Zhane's next bite of food.

He sighed and pushed his plate away, standing and rushing to the bridge. "Open communications," he said as he looked at the space shuttle that slowly headed their way.

"Spaceship, veer away. You are on a collision course," a male voice rang out urgently. "I repeat, veer away. You are on a collision course."

"DECA, do we have enough room to avoid them?" Zhane asked, moving toward the steering controls.

"Negative. Collision is imminent in thirty seconds unless the space shuttle is docked onto the Megaship," DECA answered.

"Begin docking procedure," Zhane said after a brief moment of hesitation. It was a risky move, but he couldn't afford any damage to the Megaship right now. He needed it to find Andros.

"DECA, what was the course set for this shuttle?" he asked.

"Course is set for the Cimmerian planet," DECA replied. "Docking completed. Four unidentified humans are in the space hatch."

Four humans were going to the Cimmerian planet? Only Dark Specter's minions were going there. Who were these people? More importantly was whose side they would be on.

"Make sure they don't go any further than that, DECA," Zhane said as he hurried to the Megalift. "I'll find out who they are."

The Megalift opened and Zhane walked around the space hatch, finding no humans. He checked the inside of the shuttle briefly, finding no one onboard.

"DECA, where did they go?"

"The humans left the space hatch moments before you ordered me not to allow them access to the ship."

"Just great," Zhane muttered under his breath as he walked onto the Megalift again. "DECA, open the Megalift to wherever they are now."

"That would be Megadeck 6," DECA answered as the doors to the Megalift closed.

As the doors of the Megalift opened, Zhane peered around either side of the hallway for the humans. It wasn't very likely that they would be enemies, but he couldn't be too sure. He slowly headed to the engine room, cautiously tiptoeing toward a voice echoing through the hallway a short distance away.

"I wonder what this thing does," a male voice asked.

"We must be in the engine room," another male voice answered.

"Who do you think is steering the ship?" a female answered and Zhane smiled a little. He hadn't considered that the humans might include women. They probably weren't evil after all.

"Probably the same person who pulled us onto the ship," a different female voice answered. "But why would they do that?"

"Actually, I ordered that you be pulled onto the ship. I leave the steering up to DECA," Zhane said, coming all the way into the room.

He had startled them and they stood in defensive positions, ready to fight at the first sign of a threat. Zhane stopped walking toward them and crossed his arms, hoping to show them that he wouldn't fight them.

"Who are you?" a male with a torn red shirt demanded, still in a fighting stance.

"I'm called Zhane," he answered, still keeping his distance. "Who are you?"

They all seemed to relax a little, coming out of their defensive poses, although still sizing Zhane up in their minds.

"We're the Power Rangers," the male in a torn green shirt answered, then corrected himself. "Well, we were the Power Rangers…"

"You're the rangers from Earth that Divatox thinks she destroyed?"

"How do you know about that?" the former Yellow Ranger answered as the others glanced at one another, wondering the same thing.

"Universal gossip," Zhane answered nonchalantly. "She's been bragging about it since she found your Power Chamber. Seemed pretty sure that she'd won."

"That's why we're here," the former Green Ranger said. "We were on our way to the Cimmerian planet to go after her."

"Didn't you lose your powers?" Zhane asked distractedly, looking at their torn clothes.

"It happened when the Power Chamber was destroyed," Former-Pink replied, nodding.

"Then… what do you think you're going to do when you get there?"

The former rangers looked at one another again. They hadn't a clue.

"We were also going to go to Eltar to find Zordon and hope that he could give us new powers to protect the Earth," Former-Red finally answered.

"Zordon has been captured," Zhane said bluntly, although he hadn't meant to. But who were these guys kidding, shooting off into space with no powers and with no idea about what was even happening out here. "Zordon was captured by a being called Dark Specter and his powers are being drained."

"How do you know?" the former Green Ranger asked.

"The Phantom Ranger left the Cimmerian planet and notified all of the allies he could contact."

"The Phantom Ranger?" The former Pink Ranger wrung her hands briefly, seemingly glad to hear his name.

"Then you must be a ranger too," the former Yellow Ranger concluded somewhat happily.

"I'm the Silver Astroranger," Zhane answered back. "And you all were Earth's Turbo Rangers. Phantom Ranger mentioned you the last time I saw him. He spoke very highly of all of you."

"Then maybe you could help us," the former Red Ranger said. "We could work together to help find Zordon."

"I… don't think so," Zhane hesitated. After all, he didn't know these people very well, regardless of the praises given by the Phantom Ranger.

"But you all have the same mission," a different voice said. A short robot toddled from behind the rangers, having hidden itself in case Zhane had posed a threat. "You should be a team."

Zhane looked at the rangers, who looked back at him hopefully. He had promised Andros he wouldn't. On the other hand, he definitely could use the help. If they could help rescue Zordon and help him find Andros, maybe Andros wouldn't mind so much about giving out the morphers. There's no way he would be angry about something so trivial when his life could be in danger right now.

"Follow me," Zhane said, turning around and walking out of the engine room.

"Where are we going?" the former Red Ranger asked.

Zhane turned back to them and sighed. "To the Power Vault and then to your new rooms. You guys can get cleaned up and I can explain all you need to know about your new morphers."

The teens smiled as they followed Zhane to the Power Vault, celebrating amongst themselves about the new powers that they could not believe would soon belong to them.

For now, the Phantom Ranger's praise would have to be enough of a reason to bring them along, Zhane decided. With every moment he spent debating whether or not he should send them on their way or let them join him, he was wasting precious time. The search could not afford to end. His promise to Andros regarding the morphers meant nothing without Andros around. He would have to take a chance on these Earth rangers and hope that they would not meet the same fate as the Astrorangers before them.

But if a small-time villainess like Divatox had managed to destroy their command center, the odds seemed against these guys already.


	3. Chapter 3

Ch 3

(Six months later)

Andros awoke to find the sun in his eyes, unaccompanied by the growls and shouts from the Cromian he was now forced to call 'Master.' He sat up slowly and rubbed his side, sore from so many nights on the ground. He quickly drew back his hand when his finger slipped into his open wound and he winced. Somehow, he had forgotten it was even there. In fact, it had hardly hurt at all until he'd touched it.

He tried to replay in his mind what had occurred the night it happened but so many nights had begun to run together now. Besides, it wouldn't really matter. Even if he could remember how it happened or who had done it, it wouldn't make any difference. Revenge was wasted on Omni-8.

Andros pulled down his tattered red shirt, looking down at the spreading dark spot on it and sighing softly, wondering how much time would pass before his newest wound became infected. Andros rolled away the dried blood from his fingers with his thumb and slowly stood up, looking around.

Not since the first day he arrived had he ever been left to himself in the caves or anywhere else for that matter. It would be too easy for him to escape, as the caves weren't very difficult to navigate through. But in the two years since his capture, all plans to run away had failed because the Cromians never seemed to sleep.

Despite his attempts to escape, they hadn't even been threatened enough to put him in chains like most of the other humans on the planet. The Red Ranger was no longer considered a threat to the Cromians, if he ever had been. He was barely considered to be a threat to anyone now.

Andros walked silently through the cave, a murmur of voices outside growing louder as he reached the opening of the cave. He was surprised to discover that they were human voices that sounded just as confused as he felt.

He continued to walk toward the voices, stopping short when he came across the large bodies of his Cromian master and two Cromian guards laid flat on the ground. He froze for a moment, looking for any signs of a trap, but the monsters never moved. Andros walked carefully around them and found the group of humans standing a few feet outside the cave.

One of the older men of the group greeted him, pointing toward the sky. "It's gone," he said, a calm in his voice Andros hadn't heard from anyone since before his own capture. "The force field is gone."

Andros looked up at the skies, finding the once bright green force field that surrounded the planet gone from the pale brown sky. His eyes drifted from the fallen Cromians and back to the man, a million questions reflected in them.

The man seemed to understand and nodded, "The Cromians sleep for ten days every few years," he explained. "When the Cromians maintaining the force-field are asleep, sometimes the force-field disappears and we actually have a chance of escaping."

He lifted his eyes back toward the sky again. "Can you hear them? The ships flying overhead… so far away and yet so close. That noise is what's given me the strength to make it through the past four years. Even if we're never rescued, I know that if I could just get a glimpse of a ship, I'll be able to make it through another fifty years of this place if I have to."

Andros looked around, taking in the colors that seemed to appear from nowhere since the force field's deactivation. He realized that the ground was actually brown, not green as the lighted field had portrayed. The few bodies of water that were spread out over the planet were now visibly clear and even attempted to shimmer in the presence of the blazing white sun overhead.

Andros closed his eyes and listened as the sound of a ship filled the air, a sound he hadn't heard in over two years. But he could not help but think it odd that he could hear a ship at all. An incredibly powerful ship would still have to be pretty close to allow them to hear a ship passing by the planet from where they stood. Any ships flying by the planet could not be a good thing. It never was before.

As the whirring of the ship grew louder, Andros opened his eyes and stared in disbelief as the Astro Megaship tore through the orange clouds and landed less than fifty feet in front of the group of the equally stunned people. When the dust settled, the ship's cargo bay doors opened and five Astrorangers stepped out.

As the people rushed toward the rangers, pleading with them to take them away from the Cromian planet, Andros stood watching with a frown. Too many times had he run towards the Astro Megaship and the rangers, only to find himself in one teasing nightmare after another.

There was no Astro Megaship in front of him, the other rangers were dead, and Zhane would probably never find him. Andros closed his eyes and turned back toward the cave, half-expecting to find more mirages of the Astro Megaship surrounding him on all sides. Instead, he found the fallen Cromians lying before him, unmoving and silent for the first time in the past two years.

"Andros?" he thought he heard a familiar voice call out to him. Andros turned around and saw the Silver Ranger running toward him. As he approached Andros, he demorphed and slowed to a stop as he studied the look of indifference on his friend's face, his smile fading. "Andros? Are you all right?"

Andros didn't say anything, but only narrowed his eyes at him in distrust. He slowly began to circle his hallucination, poking at it with his fingers.

Zhane stood still, attempting to read his friend as Andros walked around him. But he found Andros' mind closed to him and so continued to watch in amusement as Andros made his way around him to face him again.

Andros poked Zhane's chest with a few fingers in one last attempt to confirm his hallucination, but invariably found him to be solid. He took a step backward and looked over Zhane's shoulder at the four rangers who led the last of the humans onto the Astro Megaship. He glanced back at Zhane and shook his head, taking another step backward.

Zhane's presence didn't change the fact that the other rangers had been dead for years. Besides, they had agreed never to give the morphers to anyone else. Andros looked into Zhane's eyes for an explanation, allowing his thoughts to flow freely to his friend.

Zhane looked behind him at the other rangers and turned back to Andros, lowering his eyes a little. "Those are the new rangers," he explained. "They're… a really good team. I think you'll like them." When Andros didn't respond, Zhane placed his hand on Andros' shoulder, removing it only when Andros tensed. "Come on," he said. "We should head over to the ship."

Andros hesitated, taking one last look behind him at the sleeping Cromians, but he eventually nodded and cautiously walked with Zhane to the Astro Megaship. None of his hallucinations or nightmares had ever lasted this long before nor did they ever include a new set of rangers. But as soon as his feet touched the metal floor of the ship and his fingers slid across the cool gray walls as he passed through the cargo bay, he knew he couldn't be dreaming. No nightmare would be so cruel as to allow him to feel anything.

"I want DECA to check your vitals, so head up to the infirmary while I go and check on the others," Zhane said as he punched in a code to close the doors behind them. "We need to figure out where all these people are going to go."

Andros nodded and headed toward the Megalift. He walked slowly, taking in every detail that he could. He continued to run his fingers along everything that he passed and breathed in the sterile air of the ship.

As Andros passed by the bridge, he stopped and watched the two rangers who stood at the rear control stations, awaiting the signal to begin liftoff. Both were tall with dark hair just like the rangers that they had replaced, Andros could not help but think. But with their backs turned, he couldn't see their uniforms to identify which of them Zhane had chosen as his second-in-command, he could only tell that they were both male.

He would not be able to just take his place as the Red Ranger and leader again, that was more than obvious to Andros. And he was not sure that he would want to, not after the other Astrorangers had fallen… and definitely not after Omni-8. Whoever the second-in-command was, Andros was certain that Zhane would have given some thought before giving them the morpher. After all, Andros was not the only one to have lost his friends to Dark Specter.

But Andros decided not to linger any longer, turning back around and suddenly feeling relieved that they hadn't noticed him standing there. It was not as though he would have much of anything to say to them right now. He walked onto the Megalift and pressed the small round button next to 'Megadeck 2.'

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Welcome back, Andros," DECA greeted him as he stepped off the Megalift.

Andros looked up and gave a small smile and wave to the first small camera his eyes rested on, just outside the infirmary doorway. He hadn't realized just how much he had missed her voice.

"Please step onto the full body scanner," DECA directed.

Andros walked to a corner of the room and stood on a gray metal square. A transparent blue light rose up from the square and through him, disappearing into a metal square above his head. Another blue light descended from overhead and retreated into the lower metal square.

"Full body scan is complete," DECA said. "All vitals are normal. Recent injury of the internal oblique abdominal muscle on the left side and an older open fracture to the tibia on the right leg is detected. Open abdominal wound is not fatal. No infection is detected in either injury at this time."

Andros sat down on the examination table closest to the door and sighed. Infection was one less thing that he'd have to worry about now. But he opened the small drawer on the table and took out a bottle of antiseptic spray anyway. A spray or two wouldn't hurt.

_Well, actually it probably will_, he thought as he shook it and lifted his shirt, closing his eyes as he sprayed it into his wound. It stung unmercifully, but Andros was able to remain silent, biting his bottom lip. Two years of forced silence had taught him a lesson in quieted pain. Pain could be displayed on the face, he had learned, but never to escape from the lips… or else.

"You're such a wuss," he heard Zhane say. Andros opened his eyes and glared at his friend before tossing the bottle at his head. Zhane caught it just before it hit his face.

"Hey, no throwing," Zhane said with a grin, wagging his finger at Andros as he walked over to the examination table. "So what does DECA say? Are you okay?"

Andros opened his mouth but quickly closed it, remembering the consequences of speech. Before he could relax his mind enough to communicate with his friend, DECA answered for him.

"Two major injuries were detected," DECA said. "An open abdominal wound on the left side as well as an older open fracture of the right tibia."

Zhane leaned over and studied the wound carefully. "Geez, did one of those things take a bite out of you or something?" he exclaimed at the display of torn flesh on Andros' side. "Well, I guess that it's probably as clean as it's going to get right now, so I'll go ahead and wrap it," he said standing straight again. He reached into the drawer and took out a roll of bandages and sterile dressing.

Andros watched as Zhane sterilized his hands and began dressing his injury in silence. He had never known Zhane to work so silently before. But he wasn't too surprised. Besides, only a few minutes had passed after a two-year separation and they both knew it would take some time before things began to feel truly normal again.

When he was finished, Zhane stepped back to admire his work and sighed wistfully, looking anywhere but into Andros' eyes as he pretended to look for something in the drawer. "So… DECA mentioned something about a fracture?"

Andros nodded and lifted his right leg onto the examination table, pulling up his pants leg to reveal a bulky dark gray device attached to his ankle.

"Whoa," Zhane breathed as he moved closer to examine it, his eyes resting on the small gold rectangular emblem on what seemed to be the lid of the device. After staring at it for a moment, Zhane finally raised his head. "Is this your morpher?"

Again, Andros nodded, immediately recalling the unrelenting pain as three long screws were forced into his flesh and drilled into his bone. Suddenly, his head was filled with the sounds of his muffled screams as he remembered the tears of anger and frustration that streaked his face as each screw was tightened.

"You okay?" Zhane asked, waving a hand in front of Andros' face.

Andros shook himself from his trance and nodded as Zhane passed a portable scanner over the device that had once been his morpher.

"All right," Zhane began. "Well, it looks easy enough to remove, but it'll probably be pretty painful. So, you might want to take something before I –" Zhane stopped and looked up from the scanner to see Andros shaking his head. "Are you sure?" he asked, knowing well what his friend's response would be.

As he expected, Andros slowly nodded his head. Zhane sighed and sat down the scanner beside Andros, finally able to meet his eyes.

"Open your mouth and stick out your tongue," Zhane ordered.

Andros raised an eyebrow, but did as he was told, slowly opening his mouth and sticking out his tongue.

Zhane looked at it and sighed, picking up the scanner again. "Well, your tongue is still there," he said with a small smile. "So are you really so mad at me that you won't even speak?"

Andros closed his mouth and shook his head, reaching for the scanner in Zhane's hand. But Zhane took a step backward, holding it out of his reach.

"Honestly, Andros," Zhane began, the playfulness gone from his eyes. "Are you mad at me or something?"

Andros let his arm drop and lowered his eyes, concentrating on the hole on his pants leg instead of the sadness in his friend's eyes. He wasn't just mad at Zhane, he was angry with him. Zhane had more than just promised not to distribute the Astro morphers. They had both sworn never to take anyone else aboard the Astro Megaship after what had happened to the others.

"So, you _are_ mad at me," Zhane confirmed, nodding to himself and Andros looked back up at him. "Well, now's as good a time as any to talk about it."

Andros sighed softly in frustration and made another reach for the scanner. This time, he was able to grab it and he pressed a few buttons, passing the scanner over the device. He handed it back to Zhane, pointing to the top of the screen.

Zhane read the numbers below Andros' finger and shook his head in disbelief. "This thing must be broken," he said, smacking the device with the palm of his hand. "These numbers can't be right… There's no way that you could survive this voltage, _no one_ could."

Andros shrugged, looking at his hands and allowing his mind to wander to a time not so long ago when he had wished the current running through his body _would_ bring death.

"So, it must be voice activated, then?" Zhane asked, still studying the numbers on the scanner as Andros nodded out of the corner of his eye.

"Then, you haven't been able to speak in two years?" he asked, looking up at Andros.

Andros looked back at the hole on his pants leg and shook his head, his hands slowly tightening into fists.

"Well," Zhane began. "What _can_ you say?"

"Yes… Master," Andros spat out through gritted teeth. He had not been able to grow accustomed to the level of humility the words brought him and it almost pained him physically to utter them. Not even the knowledge that the ordeal was over could ever make the pairing of those words feel right.

"Oh," Zhane said, looking back to the scanner. "I'm sorry I asked." He placed the scanner beside Andros and pulled out a towel and a screwdriver from the cabinet behind him.

"You're sure that you don't want anything for the pain?" he asked again, placing the towel beneath Andros leg and sighing deeply when Andros nodded his head.

"Okay then. I'll just numb it as much as I can with the spray," he said, picking up a can and spraying it on Andros' ankle. He then waited a moment before placing the screwdriver into the groove of the first screw.

"I'm pretty sure that I know why you're mad," Zhane sighed as he began to turn the screw. "It's because I gave out the morphers, right? And I know I promised not to but –"

Zhane stopped as Andros jerked his leg away, knocking the screwdriver to the floor and glaring at Zhane.

"Everything okay?" Zhane asked.

Andros made several circular motions in the air with his finger, waiting for Zhane to understand. A moment later, Zhane finally nodded, picking up the screwdriver.

"Sorry," Zhane said guiltily. "_Left_ loosens screws, doesn't it? Sorry. I've got it this time."

He began turning the screw again, watching Andros' face until he felt the screw begin to loosen. Andros sat with his eyes closed, tightening them with each turn of the screwdriver. Zhane felt the screw scrape against Andros' bone and he shuddered a little.

"I _did_ try to keep my promise, you know," Zhane said, hoping that Andros was listening. "I fought alone for a whole year and a half before I realized that I really needed some help."

He looked up and Andros met his eyes for a moment before looking back down and shaking his head.

"If it makes you feel any better, they've had plenty of experience as rangers," Zhane continued, pulling the first screw out. "They used to be the Turbo Rangers on Earth."

"Earth?" Andros exclaimed, forgetting the electricity that would immediately follow.

Zhane yanked his hand away, just barely able to let go of the screwdriver before the full voltage ran through Andros' body.

Andros' body tensed and he clutched at the sides of the examination table until the current subsided. When it finally ended, he massaged his forehead, his fingers twitching with every remaining jolt that flowed through him.

"Dude, relax," Zhane said, picking up the screwdriver and beginning to turn the second screw.

Andros was not exactly sure what a dude was, and he was not in the position to ask at the moment, but he did relax.

"But, yeah, they're from Earth," Zhane continued. "And I don't want you to give them a hard time because of that. I know how you feel about Earth because of your promise to Talli, but that's the planet that we'll be spending most of our time defending."

Andros rolled his eyes and sighed softly. He didn't really think that he _hated_ Earth, and he couldn't think of any reason why he _would_ hate it. He had never even been there before. But Zhane was right. It _was_ because of Talli. It was because she had loved Earth so much that he now decided how much he hated it.

"Now approaching the planet Eka," DECA said, breaking the silence.

"Thanks, DECA," Zhane said, keeping his eyes glued to the screw as he continued to turn it. "Tell the others that I'll meet them on the bridge in about ten minutes."

Andros sighed and Zhane looked up at him. "Is the Earth thing going to be a problem?" Zhane asked as he removed the second screw and tossed it aside.

Andros shrugged and winced as Zhane began turning the last screw.

"Well, do me a favor and _try_ to get past it," Zhane said without looking up. "I really want you to get along with everyone. I've been talking you up to them since I met them, so they're expecting to meet this really spectacular, fun, daring guy."

Andros raised an eyebrow, searching for any evidence that Zhane might be joking. Andros knew that he hadn't been especially fun or nice to much of anyone in years and he wondered why Zhane would go out of his way to lie to the rangers like that.

"Okay, so I may have exaggerated just a little," Zhane said with a guilty smile. "Not that you aren't all of those things… in your own way," he added, pulling out the final screw and dropping it with the mutated morpher on the examination table with a sigh. "Well, say _something_," Zhane said.

Andros sighed deeply and looked down at his ankle, which he could feel healing immediately. But the three holes would almost surely give three noticeable scars _if_ they ever closed. He cleared his throat and looked at Zhane gratefully, extending his hand and waiting until Zhane clasped his hand in his.

"Thank you," Andros said softly.


	4. Chapter 4

Ch 4

Andros let out a breath as he reluctantly stepped out of the shower, reaching for a towel and wrapping it around his waist. He wished that it could have lasted a little longer, but he had already been in for almost an hour and had determined himself to be clean within the first fifteen minutes. The drumming of the water against his skin had been nearly hypnotic and he had found himself with his eyes closed, just standing there. And for that length of time, he was able to escape from his memories of the past two years, instead allowing his mind to go blank for the first time in his life.

But Andros knew that he was really just stalling before he had to go to the bridge to meet the other rangers. His head ached at the thought and he quickly shook it out of his mind, focusing on what he was doing now.

He walked over to the sink, wiping away with his hand the steam that had clouded the mirror above it. Many months had gone by since he had been brave enough to study his reflection and he hadn't made much of an effort ever since…

Andros closed his eyes as he fought through a sudden wave of nausea, fearful that he'd lose the battle as he swallowed hard and leaned over the sink. _I can't keep torturing myself like this_, he thought with a sigh as the moment of sickness passed. He lifted his head and stared at the man that stared back at him.

And it _was_ a man that stared, though a stranger to him now. He brought his hand up to his face, running his fingers along the long, thin scar that formed a jagged band across his forehead that disappeared into his hair.

Andros let his fingers drift from the pink scar to his hair, running through it once to the ends of it. Even though it was wet from the shower, his hair still seemed to him much darker than it had been before. He drew his hair into his hands, attempting to ring out as much water as he could into the sink. He tried to remember how long it was supposed to be as he allowed the wet strands of hair in his hand to fall limply onto his shoulders. He was almost positive that it had never reached so far down his back before.

He shrugged and decided to deal with it later, unsure if he would be able to go through with cutting it, his attention now focused on his complexion. He had noticed the patches of skin on the back of his neck and on his back that were still discolored and raw, most of them having been freshly ripped from his body. He looked down at his hands, turning them over and back, wondering if he had always been so pale.

Andros looked back up at his reflection and stared for a moment, suddenly allowing the memories to overwhelm him again, unable to put them aside any longer. He replayed his capture in his mind over and over, frowning into the hazel eyes looking back that had long since lost whatever remaining life that had been left in them.

How could he have allowed himself to be captured like that? And for so long? He tried to figure out a way that he could explain to the other rangers his subservience to the Cromians, abandoning every attempt at an explanation that made him seem weak.

"But I _am_ weak," he muttered through gritted teeth, tightly gripping the sides of the sink. It hadn't been a new revelation for him, but he had never said it aloud before.

Somehow it was more depressing to hear it aloud, even knowing how many times he had repeated it to himself in his mind. He had allowed the Cromians to break his spirit, convincing himself within the first year that he would never be rescued. Andros had held out hope as long as he could, working on an endless number of escape plans. But by the end of the year, Andros had gained no freedom and had begun to grow weary of the punishments for his efforts.

Andros sighed sadly and pulled himself away from the mirror. He walked from the bathroom to his bed, lifting up the sheets on his bed to get to the drawers underneath. He pulled out the drawer and removed his gray uniform and red shirt, staring at them as he held them tightly in his hands. If he made the decision to put them on, he would become the red ranger once again, the leader of the Astrorangers.

Andros continued to stare at the uniform. He wasn't strong enough to lead a new team. After all, the others had died under his leadership, so what would be different this time?

_Nothing will be different_, he decided and tossed the uniform onto a nearby chair. Besides, there was no guarantee that they would want him to lead them anyway. They didn't even know him.

Andros stooped back down and rummaged through the drawer. There had to be something else he could put on.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"So, what happens now?" Andros heard someone say as he slowly walked down the corridor towards the bridge. He had regretted not taking the Megalift, opting instead to explore the ship a little and take the long way there, his ankle throbbing with each painful step.

"What do you mean?" he heard Zhane ask.

"Do we ask him now or should we wait until he decides on his own?" a different voice asked. Andros stood next to the doorway, his back to the wall.

"Are you spying, Andros?" DECA asked quietly, making him jump. He brought a finger to his lips and continued to listen, having missed Zhane's reply.

"Well, I guess you're right," a female voice was saying. "If he isn't ready, then he might feel like we're pushing him into it."

"He'll do it," Zhane assured them. "Besides, he's the Red Ranger. He can't really say no."

Andros lowered his head and sighed, wondering if he should ask DECA what they were talking about, but the discordant sounds of the Megaship's alarm interrupted his thoughts. Andros lifted his head, waiting for information from DECA.

"What is it, DECA?" Zhane asked urgently.

"Ecliptor is attacking Angel Grove," DECA informed.

"Let's go," Zhane said to the others, heading from the bridge to the jumptubes. "DECA, make sure you tell –"

But Zhane stopped in his tracks when he saw Andros, silenced by what his best friend had chosen as his current attire. He wore a dark red long-sleeved button down shirt, its black buttons buttoned up to his neck, and black pants. Dressed this way anywhere else, Andros might be making the statement that he was going out on a date, but Zhane decided that he'd laugh at him for that later. Right now, Zhane understood the statement Andros wanted to make now.

"So, you've decided then?" Zhane asked more sadly than Andros had ever heard him speak.

"Yes," Andros said firmly, ignoring the hurt reflected in Zhane's eyes as he focused instead on steadying his voice. "I have."

Zhane sighed softly. "Are you absolutely sure?"

"Yes." Andros' voice wavered a bit and he hoped that he sounded as sure as he felt.

"Well, we've got to go to Earth," Zhane said, suddenly remembering the alarm and following the others past Andros and to the jumptubes. "Don't decide for sure yet. We'll talk when I get back, okay?" He waited until Andros nodded before morphing and disappearing with the rangers into the jumptubes.

But there wasn't anything left to talk about, Andros had wanted to say. He had had two years to make this decision and he was fairly content with it. Giving up his morpher wouldn't be the easiest thing for him to do, and he knew it wouldn't be any easier on Zhane, but it was the only thing left to do now.

Andros sat down at a console with a sigh and looked around the bridge. For one moment, it felt as though he had never left at all and everything was as it had been… just he and Zhane, waiting for Dark Specter's next attack and the next time they could return to their people. Andros stared down at the console in front of him and sighed again.

_There's nothing else to think about_, he convinced himself silently. The other rangers had been killed under his leadership, not to mention the countless Karovan lives he had failed to protect. He was sure now that he'd be making the right decision.

He traced around the buttons of the console with his finger, wondering how long he would have to wait. He had never thought to time any of his battles before, although he knew that DECA would probably know. But they had only been gone for two minutes, which was not a very reasonable time for defeating any monster, especially one as powerful as Ecliptor, he thought as he caught something move out of the corner of his eye. He swiveled his seat around and faced the short robot that began shuffling toward him.

"Hello, you must be Andros," it said, surprising Andros that something so inferior-looking could actually speak. "My name is Alpha and I have something for you."

Alpha opened his hand and held out Andros' fixed morpher. "There was an awful lot to fix, but it should be better than new now," Alpha said proudly.

Andros looked at the morpher, tempted to hold it once more, but held his hands in his lap and looked back to Alpha. "Thank you, Alpha," he said uneasily. "But I won't be needing it anymore."

"I'm not sure I understand," Alpha replied. "Do you mean to say that you've chosen not to be a Power Ranger anymore?"

"Yes, Alpha," Andros said, turning away from the robot and the morpher. "There's no place for me here anymore."

"Of course there is," Alpha assured. "There's always a place for the Red Ranger. You're the undisputed leader of the Astrorangers. The team is not complete without you."

"They seem to be doing just fine without me," Andros said quietly, unsure if he really felt as hurt about that as he sounded.

"That's not true at all," Alpha said. "The rangers have only scratched the surface of the powers at their disposal. Powers that cannot be used without _your_ help."

"I can be replaced," Andros said pointedly. "There are plenty of Red Rangers out there who still have their powers, not to mention the rangers-in-training. It doesn't have to be me."

"Andros, listen to me," Alpha said quietly. "There's a reason that you were chosen to be a Power Ranger. Besides, Zhane mentioned that you've been using the Megaship to look for your sister."

"My sister is dead," Andros said quietly, looking down at his hands. He hadn't meant to say it, but once it had escaped his lips, the words immediately struck at his heart. Although he had no evidence that Karone was dead, thirteen years of searching had revealed no clues as to her whereabouts or whether she was still alive.

"Well… where will you go?" Alpha asked.

"Wherever the Rebels are, I guess," Andros said, turning back to face Alpha.

"But no one knows where the Karovan Rebels are, not even the neutral planets," Alpha explained.

"The rangers-in-training have to learn to train on different planets, so their ship must be somewhere. They should know where the Rebels are." He was determined to leave the Astro Megaship one way or another.

"They left for KO-35 over a year ago to retrieve supplies for the Rebels, but they never returned," Alpha explained. "No one knows where _they_ are either."

"Then… I'll live with the Neutrals until the Rebels are found," Andros said, grasping for the nearest idea that came to him.

"Why don't you think it over, Andros," Alpha suggested, placing the morpher on the console in front of Andros. "Just because leaving feels like the best thing for you, it doesn't mean that it is."

"I was just thinking the same thing about staying," Andros muttered as the robot toddled away from him and out of the room.

He stared at the morpher in disgust, now frowning at the thought of holding it again. He was sure that if Alpha had placed it in his hands he would have thrown it to the floor. Why should he want to stay? He didn't know these new rangers and he didn't really want to know them. He just wanted to go home.

The only problem now was, where _was_ home? Even if the rangers managed to stumble across the Rebels, what would his family and friends say once they found out that he had quit… again?

Andros sighed deeply and reached for the morpher, stopping himself right before he could touch it. He needed a better reason to stay than what others would think of him. He wasn't sure that he _wanted_ a reason to hold it again.

"DECA," Andros called out, "Bring up the fight on the viewing screen."

"On screen now," DECA said.

Andros turned to the screen, immediately met with an image of each ranger being attacked by Ecliptor's sword. Several burn marks and slashes were visible on their suits from what were probably more brutal attacks from the fight. Andros sighed deeply and placed his hand on the morpher, closing his eyes.

"One more time… old friend," he said softly.


	5. Chapter 5

Ch 5

"You rangers don't seem to know when to give up," Ecliptor said, easily withstanding a direct attack with the rangers' weapons. He sent back an attack of his own, sending the rangers down.

The Silver Ranger struggled to stand, collapsing back to the ground. In front of him lay his Silver Silverizer, just barely an arm's reach away from him. He reached for it, barely brushing the weapon with his fingertips, groaning in pain as Ecliptor's foot came down hard on his arm.

"I think it's time for the Power Rangers to finally meet their end," Ecliptor said as he prepared another lightning attack.

The Silver Ranger looked up helplessly at Ecliptor's glowing eyes and prepared himself for the attack. Just then, Zhane heard rapid fire attacks from a blaster and he looked up to see the Red Ranger on his galaxy glider, using his blaster in dual action mode.

Ecliptor was weakened just enough for Zhane to free his arm and he rolled to his Silverizer, picking it up before running to the other rangers. He helped them all to their feet, turning back to watch as Andros flipped from his glider, continuing to fire the blasters and only stopping when he landed. Andros landed shakily on his feet, thankful that he didn't lose his balance. He immediately put aside his hurt ankle and ran to join the others.

"Didn't think you were coming," Zhane said.

"Glad I did," Andros replied, putting his blaster away and turning to the other rangers. "Are you all okay?"

"I think so," the Blue Ranger answered as the others nodded in agreement.

"Good. Let's finish him then!" Andros said, turning to the staggering monster. "Combine your weapons! Zhane, use your Silverizer in blade mode!"

"Right!" the rangers replied.

"Spiral Saber booster mode!" Andros called out and charged his weapon, watching Ecliptor run towards them.

"Quadroblaster, ready to fire," the Black Ranger said, aiming the weapon at Ecliptor.

"Fire!" the Red Ranger commanded and the others echoed the command.

The attack stopped Ecliptor in his tracks, sending him staggering backward. His eyes glowed as he regained his balance and projected a large image of himself that released a bright green lightning attack from its eyes.

Andros stepped directly in front of it, blocking the attack with a single spin of his Spiral Saber. The green energy whirled back at Ecliptor and sent him back again.

"Now, Zhane!" Andros called to the Silver Ranger, who managed to flip over Andros toward Ecliptor with his Silverizer, slashing him with the blade.

The blow sent Ecliptor to the ground, leaving him with barely enough energy to stand. But he struggled to his feet, managing to growl "This isn't over," before disappearing.

Andros breathed a sigh of relief, glad that Ecliptor hadn't wanted to keep fighting. He was already exhausted and didn't know how long his energy would have lasted with his injuries.

The rangers looked around briefly before demorphing, the looks on their faces showing nothing short of relief and gratitude. They stood facing Andros, waiting for him to speak.

Andros demorphed, saying nothing and not really knowing what to say. He wished suddenly that he had seized the moment and taken off on his galaxy glider. At least then he would have had a few more minutes to figure out what to say. But he hadn't and he certainly wouldn't find what to say in the grass on which he now focused.

"Thanks for your help," he heard a female voice say. He looked up as the Pink Ranger stepped forward. "You just totally saved our butts," she said with a smile.

"You all probably could have handled it," Andros shrugged.

"Maybe," the Black Ranger said, smiling. "But we're still glad you showed up when you did."

Andros shrugged again, looking back to his shoes as he felt his cheeks redden a little.

"Don't be so modest," Zhane said to him, stepping forward with a grin. "Andros always was the better fighter between the two of us."

"I wasn't better," Andros corrected, glancing up. "I just learned how to compensate for your being faster than me."

"Well, you definitely have some great moves," the Yellow Ranger said with a smile.

"Thanks," he muttered as he looked back to his shoes and shrugged.

"My name is Ashley." The Yellow Ranger stepped closer to him and held out her hand to him.

Andros glanced up, lifting his head when he saw her open hand.

"Oh," Zhane said. Andros wouldn't be familiar with the Earth custom. "That's called a –" he started, stopping when Andros took her hand in his.

"A handshake," Andros finished, shaking Ashley's hand. He took in her amused smile as he released her hand, wishing he could have returned it as she stepped back and the other rangers stepped forward.

"I'm T.J.," the Blue Ranger said, shaking his hand.

"I'm Carlos." The Black Ranger gave a small wave from behind T.J.

"I'm Cassie," the Pink Ranger said, smiling warmly. "And… welcome to Angel Grove."

"The small city with big problems," Carlos joked, making the others laugh.

"That's kind of an understatement," T.J. laughed.

"Come on, you guys," Ashley said. "Angel Grove isn't _that_ bad."

"Yeah, just an occasional monster or two and evil spells plaguing humanity every other day," Cassie laughed. "Great place to raise kids."

Just as the laughter softened and was carried away by the light wind that had started up again, Cassie snorted and everyone laughed harder.

Immediately, Andros felt himself beginning to smile. But he quickly allowed it to fade before looking to Zhane. "So… Alpha told me that you don't know where the Rebels are." He swallowed hard, forcing down the lump in his throat that nearly brought tears to his eyes. Now was no time to grieve for his family.

"Not a clue," Zhane replied, the smile gone from his face. "Wherever they are, they'll be underground, so it'll be almost impossible to find them."

Andros dropped his head again as a shudder went down his spine. "You don't think they might be…" he trailed off.

"No way," Zhane said. "I'm sure everyone's okay."

Andros nodded, suddenly upset that Zhane's answer didn't bring the comfort he had hoped. But he already knew that Zhane didn't know for sure, so what other answer was there? If Zhane had said that he didn't know if they were okay, it would have hurt him much worse.

"They're okay." Zhane's voice was more firm and assuring. Andros looked up at him when he felt Zhane's hand on his shoulder. "They're okay," he said again.

"Yeah," Andros nearly whispered, still unable to meet Zhane's eyes.

"So… do you think you're up for a tour?" Ashley stepped closer to Andros and attempted to meet his eyes, hoping to take away some of the sadness she saw in them.

"Uh… I–" Andros started.

"Maybe some other time," Zhane suggested, noticing the sun beginning to set. "It'll be dark pretty soon, so we should probably head back to the ship and fill him in on everything first."

"Right," the others agreed.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

(On the Dark Fortress)

Ecliptor walked silently onto the Dark Fortress, shoving several quantrons aside as he approached the bridge of the ship. He stopped at the passageway, waiting to be acknowledged by Astronema. Her back was to him, but he knew that she could feel his presence.

"I didn't expect you to be back so soon," Astronema said, still turned from him.

Ecliptor lowered his head, sensing the anger and disappointment in her voice. "I apologize, my princess. I had no intention of returning so quickly."

"Then why did you?" She was slowly losing patience, not understanding how a monster as powerful as Ecliptor could fail so many times at capturing five ordinary humans.

"I didn't plan on interference from the Red Ranger."

"The Red Ranger?" Astronema unconsciously grasped at the silver locket that hung from her neck and squeezed it tightly.

"Excellent," she said after a long pause. "We should inform Dark Specter immediately."

"I agree," Ecliptor said, raising his head and walking toward her. "The Red Ranger could cause major setbacks in his plans."

"Setbacks?" Astronema repeated, turning her head to him, her purple hair lightly whipping against her face. "Without the Red Ranger there _is_ no plan."

"But the Red Ranger seems much stronger now. He could be a serious threat."

Astronema turned and walked to Ecliptor, a knowing smile on her face. "I've no doubt that he'll be a threat, Ecliptor. But he won't be much of a threat to _us_. At least, not for now."

"Tell me your plan so that I can assist you."

"In due time, Ecliptor. But first, you should meet your new partner."

Astronema shifted her eyes toward to doorway, looking back at Ecliptor as a monster joined them on the bridge. Ecliptor nearly pulled out his sword upon seeing him.

"Darkonda?" Ecliptor said angrily.

The permanent evil and taunting smile on Darkonda's face seeming to grow wider as he approached him. "It's been a long time Ecliptor."

"So the two of you _have_ met. Good." Astronema glanced at Ecliptor who still focused on the intruder.

"I thought I told you never to show your face in this part of the galaxy again." Ecliptor pulled out his sword, pointing its tip in Darkonda's face.

"_I_ invited Darkonda," Astronema answered angrily, striking down the sword with her staff and stepping in front of Ecliptor.

Ecliptor put his sword away, still unable to take his eyes off of Darkonda. "But Astronema, we do not need him. I can handle whatever it is that you need me to do."

"Actually, we _do_ need him. Darkonda has some very important information on the Red Ranger that we can use to our advantage. So from now on, you are to treat him as your equal. You are not to attack each other. Got it?"

"As you command," Ecliptor replied, bowing his head to her until she left the bridge.

Darkonda walked up to him, shaking his head. "Just as I expected… You are nothing but Astronema's lapdog, Ecliptor."

Ecliptor growled angrily. "I don't know what you've told her, but when I find out what your ulterior motive is, I'm going to –"

"The only thing I want is to see to the destruction of the Power Rangers," Darkonda interrupted, casually waving away Ecliptor's words with his hand. "Nothing more, old friend."

"What _did_ you tell her?"

"Nothing that she didn't already know. She's actually figured out quite a bit on her own, I think. In fact, I should be asking you what _you_ have already told her about the Red Ranger."

"I haven't told her anything about the Red Ranger and if you know what's good for you, you'll keep your mouth shut, Darkonda."

"What's wrong Ecliptor? Afraid she'll lose respect for you if she knows the truth? Well, she will. I can guarantee you that. She may even decide to destroy you." He laughed evilly at the concept, turning around and leaving the bridge.

"That will never happen," Ecliptor said firmly.

"You'd better hope it doesn't," Darkonda's words echoed as a bright light surrounded him and he disappeared from the ship.


	6. Chapter 6

Ch 6

"So…Dark Specter has Zordon?" Andros asked after hearing a lengthy list of events he had missed.

"That's kind of why _we're_ here," T.J. explained. "As soon as we lost our powers, we left for the Cimmerian planet, but Dark Specter had taken Zordon and was already long gone by the time we ran into Zhane."

"But Divatox had Zordon the last time we saw him," Ashley added. "And we don't know exactly where she was transporting him to. She's not exactly staying in one place with him."

Andros sat back in his seat, taking it all in. He had figured that Dark Specter might become bold enough to take on Zordon, but he would never have expected him to actually win. Zordon was, without a doubt, the most powerful being in the universe. If Dark Specter had managed to capture him on Zordon's own home planet then Dark Specter had to have quadrupled his power over the past two years. Not a good thing.

"So what do Ecliptor and Astronema have to do with anything?" Andros asked.

"They're basically keeping us off of Dark Specter's trail," Cassie replied. "Every time we get close to finding Zordon, she sends down a monster."

"I don't remember ever fighting her," Andros said, trying to think. "_Did_ I ever fight her?"

"Nah," Zhane took a seat on the edge of a console across from Andros. "Ecliptor fights most of her battles for her."

"Then she must not be too tough if Ecliptor fights for her," he said, although he shifted in his seat uncomfortably.

"Oh, she's plenty tough." Zhane smiled a little. "Kind of cute too."

Andros rolled his eyes at the very notion of a _cute_ villain. "So, what happens now?"

"Right now, we look for Zordon," Zhane said. "Now that we've found you, we can reprogram all of the scanners to search for him."

"All right then," Andros said, not really sure how to respond. But while he had their attention… "Before the attack, I heard you all talking about something here on the bridge…"

"Oh…well yeah, we were going to ask you something," Cassie said, glancing from him to the others.

"Only if you felt up to it," Ashley added in quickly.

"Right," Carlos said. "We don't want to pressure you or anything. We weren't going to ask you right away, but–"

"What we wanted to ask you was… will you lead the team?" T.J. asked, ready to get to the point.

"Lead you?" Andros repeated after a moment when he was sure that they were serious.

"We weren't sure if you would want to–" Ashley started.

"I don't," Andros interrupted angrily.

Zhane slid down from the console. "Why not?"

Andros stared down at his hands. "Look, if you want me to stay on this team, that's one thing. But I won't lead you."

"What happened with the others wasn't your fault," Zhane assured him. He hadn't wanted to have this conversation so soon, but it was probably better to get it over with.

"Right," Andros muttered back. "Look, I'll agree to follow this team and to do anything else that's needed of me, but… I can't do that again."

"But you still haven't told us why not," Ashley said after another moment of awkward silence. Andros looked up coldly at her and Ashley shrunk back, wishing that she hadn't said anything at all.

"I have enough blood on my hands," Andros spat angrily. "Besides, there's no reason why I should lead you. I just met you and only just received two years worth of information a minute ago… Why can't any of you lead?"

"Because no one knows more about space navigation and Dark Specter than you and Zhane," T.J. said.

"Then Zhane can lead you."

"_You're_ the rightful leader, not me," Zhane snapped. "And you're a great leader, Andros."

"Yeah, I successfully led the other team to their deaths," Andros nearly shouted.

"Zhane told us about what happened with the other rangers," Cassie said. "It didn't sound like it was your fault."

"Exactly what did he tell you?"

"The rangers… died trying to attack Dark Specter's ship from the inside," Carlos said uncomfortably.

"Died? It was a massacre." Andros stood up angrily. "We _voted_ on whether or not to attack from the inside and I was overruled, five to one."

"It still doesn't seem like you had a choice," Ashley said softly.

"If I was the so-called leader, why would I allow myself to be overruled by my teammates?"

"Because being a leader isn't a dictatorship," T.J. explained. "You don't have that kind of control."

"In that situation, I should have taken full control," Andros argued. "If I had put my foot down, my friends might still be alive."

Everyone was silent, almost collectively sighing. There was just no arguing with him. Already it felt as though they were talking in circles.

Andros sighed and shook his head. "I definitely can't lead you if you don't think I know what being a leader means… Maybe I don't and that's why I failed the other team. But I'll fight with you, which is more than I had planned to do. So for now, let's just work together as a team, instead of choosing a leader for it." He paused for a moment. "If it makes you feel better to say I'm the leader, just don't say it in front of me," he muttered.

Andros walked past the rangers in silence and pressed a few buttons on the console in front of him. He could feel them all staring at him and he wished he had retreated to his room instead. He didn't turn around to meet their eyes, but waited until he felt them walk away from him as he unnecessarily performed systems check functions.

The others took their places at different stations, working in complete silence for what seemed like a lifetime. Andros looked around at them, repressing the voice within him that yearned to take control. How could they work like that? No one knew what anyone else was doing or to what goal they worked toward.

But if he gave in to the voice and snapped orders at them, he would certainly be accepting the leading position. Andros sighed again and walked to the Megalift, heading to his room.

_It'll happen again_, he thought. _I'll call them my friends and they'll die_. If he had to lead them, he would have to find a way to do it without being their friend.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Well, that didn't work," Cassie turned in her chair to face the others.

"It used to," Zhane said with a sigh. "All we'd have to do was wait for him to give an order. I guess he's changed more than I thought."

"Tricking him into leading us isn't the right thing to do," T.J. said. "I think we should wait a little longer before we try asking him again. In the meantime, let's not get on his bad side."

"Maybe you're right," Zhane replied.

Ashley stood up and walked toward the doorway, part of her wanting to run after Andros to apologize for what they had just tried to pull. He had lost his teammates –his friends, only two years ago and had barely had time to grieve over them before being captured. His sister was still missing and now he couldn't even go home. Putting any kind of pressure on him, especially about leading the team, was probably a bad idea.

"You okay, Ash?" Cassie's voice pierced through her thoughts.

"Yeah," Ashley said, suddenly feeling the few tears that had spilled down her cheeks. "I was just thinking."

"I told you too much of that might get to you," Carlos teased.

"Very funny," Ashley laughed, wiping the tears away with one hand, while playfully swiping at Carlos with the other. "I was thinking about how Andros must feel about now."

"Don't ever tell him that," Zhane said sternly as he stood and walked over to Ashley. "Listen, guys. I know it's going to be hard to hear everything that Andros has gone through and not feel sorry for him. And believe me, you'll all feel that way at some point."

He paused, looking intently into Ashley's teary eyes.

"But no matter how sorry you feel for him, just… don't, okay?" Zhane continued. "As you saw earlier, he feels sorry enough for himself without anyone else's help."

Zhane's words echoed in Ashley's head as she wandered to the workbay. She wasn't sure that what she had felt was pity for Andros. It seemed deeper than that somehow as sadness and anger began to swell within her.

She was sure that these weren't her feelings, but how could they possibly be his? Ashley shook her head, attempting to dispose of the thoughts and feelings that she felt more and more strongly by the minute. But the thoughts nearly consumed her now and her eyes filled with tears.

"What's wrong with you, Ashley?" she asked aloud, shaking her head again.

Suddenly the overwhelming feelings were replaced by hunger and Ashley's stomach noisily agreed. Once the selfish stomach became silent, she wondered if Andros might be hungry too. She sighed and faced the Synthetron. Against her better judgment, she looked up at DECA's camera.

"Hey DECA, what's Andros' favorite food?"


	7. Chapter 7

Ch 7

Andros lay on bed with his eyes closed, restlessly tossing and turning as he tried to get comfortable. The fight had taken more out of him than he had let on and his side began aching again. The pain had hit him just before he made it to his room, leaving him doubled over at his door for several minutes before finally reaching his bed. Now he was in too much pain to sleep and as long as he remained awake, he'd keep thinking about the lost Rebels, his missing sister, and leading the Astrorangers again. Only the latter gave him a headache and he'd focus on trying to sleep again.

He sat up when he heard a knock at the door and he sat up, figuring that it must be Zhane coming to remind him of his promise to be nice.

"Who is it, DECA?" he asked quietly, in case he decided to feign sleeping.

"It is Ashley," DECA informed. "Shall I let her in?"

"No," Andros said, although he got up from the bed. "I really don't want to talk to anyone tonight."

"I do not think it would be beneficial to turn her away," DECA said.

"Why's that?"

"She has asked me not to say," DECA replied.

Andros let out a deep breath. "Let her in," he said reluctantly.

The door slid open and Ashley rolled in a small tray of food.

"I had hoped you weren't asleep just yet." Ashley smiled. "I wanted to apologize for earlier. We didn't mean to pressure you about leading… We just, kind of, well –"

"You all listened to Zhane instead of following your instincts to wait before asking me," Andros finished, folding his arms.

"Well… yeah, I guess we did," Ashley said, unconsciously picking at a hangnail. "But we're really sorry for that. We shouldn't have done that to you."

Ashley glanced from Andros to the plate of food. She hadn't expected a thank you, but he wasn't even looking at her now. His face was nearly expressionless, except that Ashley may have detected a bit of guilt as he looked to the floor.

"Did I get it wrong?" she asked after a moment of uncomfortable silence. "Is it not your favorite anymore? Because if you want –"

"No, it's fine," Andros said softly, keeping his head down. "Thank you, um…"

"Ashley."

"Right," he nodded, glancing up at her. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," Ashley smiled. "And if you need anything else, just let me know. I'll be on the bridge for a few more hours."

Andros lifted his head as Ashley walked toward the doorway. "Oh, I get it," he said, frowning at her. "Don't do me any favors, okay?"

Ashley stopped and turned to face him again. "What do you –"

"I don't need your pity and I don't want your charity," he said coldly.

"Hey," Ashley began, feeling her cheeks get hot as she stepped closer to him. "I was coming up to apologize and I thought you might be hungry, that's all. I didn't mean to offend you."

"But you do, don't you? You feel sorry for me because of what happened to me."

"Andros, we really don't know what happened to you on that planet and Zhane hasn't gone into detail about much of anything about you." Ashley met his troubled eyes and took another step toward him. "But how are we supposed to feel about you being captured on a planet of monsters for two years?"

"Don't feel anything," he said, turning from her angrily. "You don't even know me and it didn't happen to you."

Ashley gently placed a hand on his shoulder, which he shrugged off immediately. "Andros," she began softly. "I don't have to know you as well as Zhane to understand what pain is… When one of us hurts, we all hurt a little."

Andros rolled his eyes and shook his head when he heard Ashley sigh. "I won't be needing anything else," he said, still turned from her.

"Andros –"

"I won't be needing anything else, _thank_ _you_," he stamped coldly onto the sentence, walking back to his bed.

Ashley slowly turned around and walked out of Andros' room, standing in front of his door as it hissed harshly behind her and trying to figure out what had just happened. She couldn't imagine what she could have said to make him so angry so suddenly and she was almost certain that she hadn't said anything wrong this time.

Maybe she shouldn't have said anything at all, she thought as she headed to the Megalift. He hadn't been on the ship any longer than four hours and here she was, bothering him already. They had already ruined his day by asking him to lead them and now she had made things worse by coming to his room, probably disturbing his sleep…

Ashley closed her eyes and allowed her head to thud against the wall of the Megalift, which hurt more than she had thought it would. She should never have bothered him and there was no way of making it up to him without bothering him again. At least, not today.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Andros sat on his bed, staring angrily at the door until he heard Ashley's footsteps fade. The last thing he needed to think about was whether or not anyone felt sorry for him. That was all anyone he'd ever met had done, except one person and she wasn't even alive anymore.

Andros lowered his eyes and shook his head, trying to put aside his anger. He just didn't understand why anyone would waste their time on sympathy or empathy. What a terrible burden to place on someone else. He couldn't fathom why anyone else would feel anything for him. _Because they're normal, that's why_, he thought.

"It's because they're normal," he repeated aloud. Somehow it sounded less convicting out loud. Normal wasn't a bad thing and neither was having feelings for others. But it wasn't even the fact that people could feel that way that bothered him, it was people who felt for _him_ that bothered him.

Andros lay back on his bed, turning his head to the window. Staring at the stars usually relaxed him enough to sleep at night. But viewing the stars seemed so boring from the megaship than from the ground. Moving through them on a ship didn't give him any time to really look at them and staring at the blur they created only made him dizzy. Even on Omni-8, he had been able to enjoy the stars for a while as he was being escorted back into the dark caves where he slept.

He turned his head away from the window in disgust, wondering how he could have the words 'enjoy' and 'Omni-8' in the same sentence. He pushed the years on Omni-8 as far in the back of his mind as possible to join the anger that had recently left him.

He turned over on his side, sure that he'd never get to sleep as long as he was on a mattress. But he lay there a while and let his mind wander, groaning when the Yellow Ranger came to mind.

_T'isan ei-diar. Ta ki di-ar sa si-mi_, his mother's words echoed through his mind as they usually did when he felt bad about something. And as usual, she was right. He needed to see things through Ashley's eyes, even if it was for a moment. He sighed, unhappy with this sudden need to sympathize with her, but he closed his eyes and tried.

Ashley had been kind to him, had brought him his favorite meal, and even apologized when the others hadn't and there had been no reason to do any of those things. He could have at least thanked her properly. But as usual, he had jumped to conclusions without even giving her a chance to explain.

Maybe it hadn't been pity that had brought her to his room at all. He had thrown her out of his room and she probably didn't even know what she had done wrong. Because she _hadn't_ done anything wrong.

Andros sat up, stifling a yawn before getting up from the bed. He wouldn't think about her now and an apology could wait. He needed his rest so that he could heal his injuries. He grabbed up his sheet and a pillow, tossing them on the floor in no particular fashion, not even sure that he should have bothered with a pillow.

He sat down on the sheet and lay on his back, immediately comfortable enough to close his eyes. He could already feel himself drifting off and he sighed almost happily as he allowed himself to drift further and further away…

"_Andros," a voice whispered in his ear after what felt like seconds had passed._

_Andros shut his eyes tightly, convinced that the child-like voice he heard couldn't be real._

"Andros_," the voice said a little louder and more persistently._

_Finally, Andros opened his eyes, still lying on his side and staring into the face of a little girl stooping in front of him who didn't look more than four or five years old. Her blue eyes pierced into him and she giggled when his sleepy expression suddenly became stunned. Andros sat up, looking around for whoever might be cruel enough to play such a horrible trick on him._

"_I missed you, big brother." The girl smiled widely as she stood up straight._

"_K-Karone?" he managed to say. Andros closed his eyes, hoping to blink her out of existence, but when he opened his eyes she was still there, smiling at him. He could only stare silently at her, his mouth attempting to speak words that were never given sound._

_He closed his eyes again and let out a long breath. "She's not real," he said softly. "She can't be real."_

"_Why would you say something so mean?" Karone asked sadly._

_Surprised by the hurt in her voice, Andros opened his eyes. "You _aren't_ real," he said firmly. "The _real_ Karone would be much older than you are now. Karone was kidnapped when she was your age almost fourteen years ago."_

_Karone narrowed her eyes at him and stamped her foot. "I'm Karone! And I _am_ real," she said angrily before storming out of his room._

"_Where are you going?" Andros called after her._

"_Now you'll have to catch me," Karone said, poking her head back into his room and giggling._

"_Wait!" Andros scrambled to his feet and stepped out of his room, looking around for the child. "DECA, where did she go?"_

_But he caught a glimpse of the Megalift closing and ran down the corridor to catch it. It closed without him so he turned a corner and went down the emergency escape ladders, listening as he went down for sounds of the Megalift doors._

_He finally heard the Megalift open on Megadeck 6 and jumped from the ladder. Karone's giggles echoed in the corridor and Andros ran to the cargo bay, finding her standing in front of the console. She looked into his eyes and prepared to press a button._

"_Don't, Karone. You'll open the cargo bay doors," Andros told her as calmly as his shaky voice allowed._

"_If you don't think I'm real, then I that means I can't die," she concluded immaturely, pressing the button._

_The doors rushed open and Andros grabbed onto a lever on the console with one hand and Karone's hand with the other as a large gust of air rushed everything not welded down through the doors. As he felt her hand begin to slip from his grip, Karone screamed._

"_Hold on, Karone," he cried out. Andros looked at the console, locating the button to close the doors. It was within his reach, but he couldn't release her hand. On the other hand, if he let go of her or the lever, he'd have to press the button before either of them were carried out of the doors. Even if the child wasn't Karone and wasn't real, she didn't deserve such a fate. But he had to do something now or her fate would not be his choice._

_Andros stared at the button, concentrating as hard as he could. The button pressed down and the doors closed and locked._

_Andros and Karone collapsed to the ground, Karone crying softly. "What were you thinking, Karone? You could have killed us," Andros said angrily, sitting up._

"_I'm sorry," Karone said through her tears, hiding her face in her hands. "I'm sorry."_

_Andros sighed and pulled the little girl into his arms, stroking her hair as she wrapped her arms around him and sobbed on his chest. _

"_Why don't you think I'm real?" Karone asked sadly. "You can feel me hugging you, can't you?"_

"_Of course, I can," he said, returning the squeeze._

"_Don't I hug the same?" She looked up at him, hopefully. "Don't I look the same?"_

_Andros smiled and wiped away the tears streaming down her face as he nodded. "I could never forget about my little sister's hugs."_

"_You could never forget about me, could you?"_

"_No," he said, deciding it best to humor her. After all, this dream was better than most of the others he'd had about Karone. "I could never forget about you."_

"Well, this is a new development," Andros heard just as Zhane's face came into focus.

Andros squinted as his eyes adjusted to the light. When he had fully opened his eyes, he looked around and saw that he was on the bridge. As he noticed the other rangers standing in front of him, he felt Zhane release his arm. He turned just as Zhane motioned for T.J. to do the same, realizing that he was standing up.

"How did I get in here?" Andros asked, not sure if he really wanted to know.

"You were sleepwalking," Zhane answered. "Has that ever happened before?"

"I don't think so," Andros rubbed his eyes and looked up at the others, all of whom avoided his eyes. "Did I do something I shouldn't have?"

"No, you just kind of scared us, that's all," Zhane said. "You kept saying the same thing over and over like a zombie."

"A zombie?" Andros decided that a definition wasn't important now. "Well what did I say?" he asked instead.

"I don't know. Something in Karovan." Zhane shrugged.

"What was it?" Andros pressed.

"You know the only sentences I know in Karovan are 'I'm hungry,' 'I'm starving,' and 'can I call you sometime?'"

"It sounded like you said, 'May o-oats cona-co bay tana.'" Ashley frowned in frustration at her sloppy imitation.

"Mei-ots kon akobe ta-ana," Andros repeated to himself.

"So, what does it mean?" Cassie asked.

"I could never forget about you," Andros said softly, recalling the words in his dream.

"A dream about Karone?" Zhane lifted an eyebrow.

Andros slowly nodded before glancing around at the others again. "Are you guys sure that I didn't do anything else?"

"Do you remember doing anything else?" Zhane asked.

"No, but you were holding my arms," Andros said slowly. "Why else would you have to restrain me?"

Everyone looked around guiltily and Andros lowered his eyes, afraid to ask again. "What did I do?" he asked quietly.

"You –ow," Carlos began, cutting himself off when both Zhane and Ashley kicked him.

"The important thing is that no one was hurt, right?" Zhane asked, draping an arm around Andros.

"I guess," he answered back, raising his head and seeing that the others didn't seem so sure.

"Now you should probably head back to sleep," Zhane said. "And don't worry about a thing. We're looking out for you."

Andros looked to Zhane and to everyone else who all nodded in unison.

"Okay," Andros said as Zhane released him. He walked out into the corridor and disappeared onto the Megalift.

"Why couldn't we tell him?" Carlos asked after DECA assured the rangers that Andros was no longer within earshot.

"Because he's got enough on his mind without having to worry about this," Ashley answered.

"But he could have hurt himself or one of us," Carlos exclaimed. "Shouldn't he know about something this serious?"

"Yes, but not now." Zhane looked down at his hands. "It's his first night back, guys. We'll tell him when the time is right, maybe tomorrow."

Everyone nodded in response except Carlos, who reluctantly agreed.

After all, it probably would upset Andros to know that he had nearly killed them all. It was certainly a burden that he didn't need on his first night back.


	8. Chapter 8

Ch 8

_"Guys, I need your help in the cargo bay. Hurry!" _

_Zhane's strained voice sounded urgently from the rangers' communicators, worrying them enough to run from the bridge through the corridor and down the emergency escape ladders to Megadeck 6. Zhane had never sounded like he was in so much trouble before._

_ They arrived at the cargo bay in time to see Zhane forcefully pushed into the engine. Zhane remained on his feet although his lower back had connected with the machinery fairly hard. He looked over at the rangers, already running over to help._

"_Don't hurt him, guys. I think he's sleepwalking," Zhane said, recovering quickly from his pain and standing up straight._

_They all looked at Andros, whose lifeless eyes stared at nothing in particular as he slowly moved toward the control kiosk in front of the cargo bay doors._

"_So, what should we do?" Ashley asked._

"_Well, getting in his way is something that you definitely _don't_ want to do," Zhane said, pulling Andros away from the kiosk by his uniform jacket and sending him to the floor._

_Andros stood again, seemingly unfazed by the minor inconvenience, and headed back to the kiosk._

"_What is it that he's trying to do?" T.J. asked, stepping in front of Andros and being immediately shoved into Zhane._

"_I'm not sure, but he's really determined to do it," Zhane replied. "But he's headed toward the cargo bay doors, which isn't good."_

"_Can't we wake him?" Carlos asked, helping T.J. and Zhane to their feet._

"_It would not be wise to try waking him while sleepwalking," DECA informed. "He could become violent upon doing so, potentially hurting himself and others."_

"_He's kind of doing that already," Zhane said, narrowly avoiding a kick to the stomach as he grabbed Andros by the shoulder._

_Andros flipped Zhane over his shoulder and avoided being grabbed by Cassie and Ashley, easily making it to the control kiosk. "I'm sorry," he muttered as he pressed a button. "It's my fault she's gone."_

_Instantly, the cargo bay doors opened, attempting to pull everything and everyone out of the Megaship. Zhane was able to grab Andros' arm and the side of the control panel before the doors fully opened, holding on tightly as his friend began slipping from his grip. He looked around, hoping that the others had managed to find strongholds nearby. Luckily, they had and held on tightly as they were pulled violently toward the open door._

"_I think I can reach the button," Ashley yelled over the sounds of the wind. She stretched her arm out, just missing the button twice. She finally pressed it, closing the doors, and she collapsed on the floor with the others. By the time she stood, Andros was already on his feet, struggling against Zhane's grip on his arm._

"_Help me get him to the bridge," Zhane said, motioning for T.J. to grab Andros' other arm, both of them practically dragging Andros to the Megalift._

Ashley sat alone on the bridge, swiveling back and forth in a chair, recalling the incident over and over. After about the tenth time, she realized that Carlos was right. They had no right not to tell Andros about what had happened. After all, he could have killed himself. He could have killed everyone.

Ashley stopped swiveling in the chair and shuddered at the thought, letting out a deep breath.

_Something_ _this_ _serious_ _should _not_ be a secret_, she thought, standing up. She and Andros already weren't getting along, so she was sure that keeping a secret from him would not help him to trust her. But if he found out, he would never trust any of them. They had all practically lied to him and he was sure to be angry if he found out. He seemed to have a bit of a temper anyway.

She would just have to tell him. But Zhane had made them promise not to tell and Ashley rarely broke a promise –only if it was important. This was pretty important though. On the other hand, she had known Zhane longer and he already trusted her. And if she went behind his back and told Andros the truth…

Ashley sat back down and buried her face in her hands with a moan as the conflicting thoughts continued to bounce around in her head. Maybe she could talk to Zhane about it. Not telling Andros had been an impulsive decision, so she might be able to convince him to change his mind.

Ashley lowered her hands from her face and closed her eyes. "DECA, where's Zhane?"

"Zhane is currently in the workbay, working on his Silver Cycle," DECA answered.

It probably was not best to bother Zhane while he was working on something as important as his Silver Cycle. "Is Andros awake?"

"Andros is currently on the Simudeck. Shall I inform him that you wish to speak to him?"

"No, I'll go to him. Thanks, DECA." Ashley stood up and headed to the Megalift.

She would just have to tell him. If she told Andros the truth, Zhane would forgive her, but Andros most definitely would not if she kept it a secret. He already didn't like her.

But how do you begin to tell someone that he almost killed himself and everyone else? _Hey, Andros. You'll never guess what you almost did today?_

Ashley lingered around the corner as long as she could before reaching the doorway of the Simudeck, hoping that she wouldn't be interrupting his training too much. But she didn't hear anything in the room at all. He had probably gone back to his room to get some sleep.

She would have turned around and tried her luck with Zhane if she hadn't heard him sigh. Ashley walked through the door, keeping close to the walls, waiting for her surroundings to change. But the cold gray walls of the Simudeck remained as she walked farther into the room.

Andros wasn't training at all. He just sat on the floor in the middle of the room, his legs out in front of him and crossed, his back to Ashley. Even as she approached him, he never moved or acknowledged that she was there. So against her better judgment, she lightly knocked on the wall to get his attention.

"Stop simulation," Andros called out, suddenly noticing out of the corner of his eye the second shadow resting by his hand. But he never turned around or even changed position. He continued to sit, seemingly staring into oblivion.

"I'm sure that I'm the last person that you want to see right now," Ashley began, feeling a little hurt when he nodded softly. "But I needed to tell you something really important."

Andros sighed and reluctantly stood up, turning to face her for what he hoped would be the final time that evening.

"Andros, I have to tell you… No, I _need_ to tell you," Ashley began, unable to look elsewhere but in his waiting hazel eyes.

Andros folded his arms and waited patiently for the end of the sentence.

"I have to tell you," she began again, wringing her hands. "When you were sleepwalking, you almost… you –"

"Opened the cargo bay doors and almost killed everyone?" he suggested, lowering his eyes.

Ashley stopped fidgeting and dropped her arms down by her side. "You knew?"

"You _do_ know that DECA has cameras all over the ship, right?"

"Oh… right."

Andros lifted his head, walking a little closer to her. "What I'd like to know is why you all didn't tell me when I asked."

Though his arms were still folded, he wasn't angry as far as she could see, which Ashley hoped was a good thing. "We didn't want you to stress out about anything else right now."

"I could have killed everyone and you're worried about _my_ stress?"

Ashley looked down at her feet and shrugged. She couldn't exactly argue with that.

"So why tell me now?" he asked.

Ashley looked up at him. Now he looked angry. "Like I said, I –I thought you needed to know."

"Why? Think I'd cut you a break for being the first to tell me the truth?"

Ashley was sure that her face was turning red, but she focused on controlling her voice which she knew would be affected next. "No, I didn't think anything like that… Look, I don't blame you for being angry with us about this, but I wanted to tell you because –"

Andros took another step toward her. "Because you felt guilty," he finished.

He shook his head when she looked away from him, already knowing the answer. But he shouldn't be angry with her. She had told him the truth when even his best friend hadn't. And now if she hadn't felt guilty for going behind everyone else's backs before, she probably did now.

"So, what now?" Ashley's voice nearly whispered to him.

"Well, Zhane and I will have to have a talk about keeping things from me," he replied with a sigh. "If you want, I won't tell him that you said anything."

"That's okay," Ashley said, surprised that he was willing to offer her any kind of break. But the fewer secrets she had to keep, the better. "But what about the sleepwalking?"

"Not much I can do about dreaming," Andros said with a shrug. "I'll just have DECA lock my door while I sleep, I guess."

"So… I suppose you won't be sleeping well for a while. I know that _I'd_ be afraid of sleepwalking again." If only she could direct the conversation into a more pleasant direction, he might forget that she seemed to annoy him every time they were in the same space.

"I'm not afraid," Andros said defensively.

Ashley smiled a little. "I didn't mean that you were actually afraid. I just meant that you might be… worried."

"Oh." His cheeks reddened momentarily at the realization. Once again, he had misunderstood her intention. "Well, I'm not worried either," he muttered.

Ashley stared at him in silence for a while, wanting to laugh at how vulnerable he suddenly looked. It was cute on him and she wished that she knew him well enough to tell him so. But she didn't want to test his mood so soon after telling him about her lie by omission.

"Um… I didn't have anything else to tell you, so if you want, I can go… if you'd rather be alone." She didn't really want to go just yet, but she knew that it was unlikely that Andros would answer any of the questions that ate at her.

"Unless you had anything you wanted to talk to _me _about," Ashley added hopefully.

Andros looked away from her, unable to decide whether or not to ask her. He knew that even thinking about asking was borderline offensive, but it would eat at him until he asked. And he might as well get it over with now.

"Actually, I _did _want to ask you… how you came to be a Power Ranger." He was met with silence and he looked up at her, meeting her confused brown eyes.

"Oh," Ashley eventually said, unsure of where to begin. "I was, well… we all were, kind of… approached, I guess, by the rangers before us."

"So, those rangers trained you?"

"Well, we weren't _trained_ exactly," Ashley answered. "We… we just kind of learned on our own a little. We didn't have a lot of time for training with school and everything else."

"You didn't have any formal training _and_ you're still in school?" Andros let out a breath and looked away from her again. "This explains a lot."

"Explains what?" Ashley asked, trying to guess where he was going with this.

"It explains how you allowed your command center to be destroyed …and by _Divatox_," he said, shaking his head. "Of all the pathetic villains out there…"

"Wait a minute, what do you mean we 'allowed' it?" Ashley asked incredulously.

"According to DECA, you self-destructed your zords _and_ Divatox's creeps were able to follow you to your command center," he said accusingly.

"You weren't there. You don't know what we –," Ashley said defensively, fighting back the angry tears that immediately began clouding her eyes. "We had no choice but to –"

"Is it also true that you allowed a child to become a Power Ranger?" Andros interrupted, somewhat angrily.

"A child? Who do you mean? Justin? He was a Power Ranger before _we_ were," Ashley protested. "We had nothing to do with Justin becoming a ranger."

She saw his hands clench into fists and she took a step backward when they began to shake by his sides.

"But did you ever try to talk him out of it?" he asked, raising his voice. "Did you make him understand that he'd be risking his life, not to mention his family's lives, every day that he held onto that morpher?"

"Justin was a great ranger," Ashley said as a few tears escaped and ran down her cheeks. "He already knew the risks. But, he wasn't like any other kid his age –"

"So what would you have told them?" Andros interrupted again, stepping closer to her still.

"Them?"

"His family… What would you have told them if anything had happened to him?" Andros asked, standing less than a couple of feet from her but close enough now to feel the increasing rhythm of her warm breath on his neck.

Ashley opened her mouth to speak but the lump in her throat refused to allow words to form. Staring into his cold eyes, she almost couldn't breathe. And so all she could do was stare at him, angrily and tearfully, searching her mind for an answer that might satisfy him.

Andros shook his head pitifully at Ashley and turned away from her, walking back toward the center of the Simudeck. This girl didn't know anything at all. She and the others were just chosen without any type of formal training, and were still in school. They were all still children, no better than he had been when he had started his own training.

As he turned away from her, Ashley suddenly found herself able to rid her throat of the annoying lump that held back the majority of her tears. As the lump disappeared, so did her tears and she took a deep breath.

"How do you even know about any of that?" she finally asked, somehow able to remove the anger from her face and voice.

Andros turned to look at her. "When the words 'Power Rangers' and 'failure' are in the same sentence, word tends to get around… The Turbo Rangers are the worst Power Rangers in Earth's history, maybe in the whole universe," he stated coldly, causing Ashley's angry tears to return and fall mercilessly down her tinted cheeks.

"And yet somehow," he continued. "Earth has remained Zordon's favorite planet for generations."

"How can you say these things?" Ashley asked, angrily wiping away the tears that continued to fall. "We were – we _are _good rangers. Maybe we didn't have any… formal training, but we did the best we could no matter what." She was almost shouting as her throat closed and she nearly choked on her words, but she forced them out as long as they came.

"All that was ever asked of us was to protect Earth no matter what and to the best of our abilities and we did that," Ashley continued. "We were _not_ failures. We lost the command center, but we were ready to fight Divatox and her army with or without our powers. And we would have defeated her… You have no right to stand in judgment of us, especially when you weren't there."

Andros looked angrily at her, not sure what to say next, if anything. Even after two years, he still wasn't used to being talked at and he wasn't sure how to respond to it anymore. He thought of his mother's words again, wondering if on the other hand he had maybe taken things a bit far. He didn't have to insult the team and he shouldn't have questioned Zordon's preference for Earth. Suddenly, it hadn't seemed worth it to ask her after all.

"Are you finished?" Andros asked, reverting back to his annoyed self.

"Yeah," Ashley mumbled, drying her face with her hand.

"Look, Yellow Ranger –"

"Ashley," she corrected.

"Right," Andros said, rolling his eyes. "I didn't say what I did to upset you." Ashley shot him a glare and scoffed.

"I don't expect you to believe me, I just –" Andros continued, cut off by approaching footsteps.

He looked toward the doorway as Zhane walked into the room. Ashley hurriedly wiped away the last of her tears as Zhane walked up to her.

"You okay?" Zhane asked her, already aware of the answer.

"Yeah," Ashley said, putting a fake smile on her face. "I was just… going to bed when I ran into Andros."

"What'd he say to you?" Zhane looked coldly at Andros, who glanced up innocently at his best friend.

"Nothing worth mentioning, Zhane," Ashley said, backing away to the doorway. "I was actually just on my way to my room. So, um… good night, you guys."

"Good night, Ash," Zhane said, unconvinced by her words.

"Good night," Ashley said as she disappeared into the corridor.

"What did you say to her?" Zhane demanded, turning to Andros.

"Nothing that wasn't true," Andros replied.

Zhane rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I'm sure."

"I don't know what you want me to tell you, Zhane." Andros shrugged.

"How about the truth?"

"That's funny. You lecturing _me_ about truth," Andros said, crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes at Zhane. "I don't remember you telling me the truth about how I almost sucked everyone out the cargo bay doors tonight."

Zhane sighed. He had hoped that Ashley hadn't mentioned that. "I would have told you eventually. I was trying to look out for you."

"What do you mean you were looking out for me? I don't want to hear that, Zhane. This is something that's happening to _me_," Andros said angrily, dropping his arms to his sides. "Next time this happens, don't lie to me about it and then drag the others into it with you."

"You're right, Andros," Zhane said, meeting his friend's eyes. "I'm sorry, okay? But don't take out your anger with me on them. This was _my_ idea, not Ashley's, and not anyone else's. I need you to lay off of these guys. So whatever you said to Ashley a minute ago, and I _will_ find out one way or another, but whatever you said, don't let me find out that you said it again."

Andros shook his head and turned away from Zhane, hoping that a short agreeable answer would send him on his way.

"Fine, Zhane," he muttered.

"No, I'm serious, Andros," Zhane said firmly, placing a heavy hand on his friend's arm and turning Andros back to face him. "Promise me," he said.

"I promise, okay?" Andros assured him, quickly shrugging off Zhane's hand.

Zhane shook his head and walked from the Simudeck and up to Ashley's room. Even if Ashley didn't want to talk about what Andros had said to her, he would at least apologize to her. He walked up to her door and knocked, not surprised when she didn't answer right away.

"It's me," he said, knocking again.

Ashley's door opened and Zhane walked into her room, his eyes resting on Ashley who sat on the edge of her bed.

"I didn't interrupt anything, did I?" he asked as the door closed behind him.

Ashley softly shook her head.

"Are you really okay?" he asked, sliding down the wall to sit on the floor.

"Yeah, I think so," she answered quietly.

"You want to talk about it?"

"Not tonight… maybe in the morning. I really think that I need a little more time." Besides, she was dead tired now and she refused to drain anymore of her energy thinking about _him_.

"Okay," Zhane said, not wanting to pressure her into talking but too settled to get up right away. "Well I still wanted to apologize…"

"Don't apologize for him, Zhane. I'm okay, really."

"I don't believe that you're okay," Zhane replied, leaning his head back against the wall. "You're obviously upset over whatever he said to you. But I'm not apologizing for him. He can do that himself and he will… I'm apologizing for me. I shouldn't have asked you to lie. If I had just told him the truth, you wouldn't have had to talk to him at all."

"I should have just left him alone," Ashley thought aloud.

"Still…" Zhane finally stood back up. "I should have handled things a little better, you know?"

Ashley shrugged.

"But hopefully, tomorrow will be better," Zhane said, pressing a button to open the door.

"Maybe," Ashley shrugged, hoping that a good night's sleep would help cool her off.

"Good night, Ash… and I'm sorry," Zhane walked out of her room and into the corridor.

Ashley waited until she heard Zhane go into his room before she lay down on her bed, facing the door. It had been a long-shot expecting Andros to be the one at her door. He did not seem the type to apologize although he had come close to it before Zhane walked in.

She heard footsteps walk up to her door and she lifted her head a little as they stopped in front of her door. Ashley pushed her hair back behind her ear, listening intently for any signs of movement. Several seconds passed before the footsteps resumed and she heard them fade away again.

It was definitely a long-shot.


	9. Chapter 9

Ch 9

"It is time to wake up."

Andros groaned, finally sitting up off of the floor and stretching. DECA had softly reminded him of the time for the third time that morning, knowing that he was not asleep but instead was wasting as much time as possible before having to interact with the other rangers.

Ashley was sure to have told the others what he had said and he wasn't sure if he was ready to face them or their reactions just yet. Although, he was counting on her telling the others and he hoped even more that they were upset. It just might be enough to distract them from the fear that would come with knowing that he might try to kill them in his sleep.

"The other rangers are already eating breakfast. Do you not wish to join them because of yesterday's incident?" DECA asked.

Andros glared up at the red light. He shouldn't have been too surprised by DECA's natural instinct to eavesdrop, but it was still annoying. He said nothing, standing up and laying out his uniform on his bed.

"They have all expressed their wish to speak with you as soon as possible." DECA informed him.

"As soon as possible?" Andros repeated, looking up briefly.

"The rangers would like to speak with you before they leave for school."

"I'm sure they do," Andros said, finding himself smiling a little. After what he had said to Ashley, they probably wanted to tear him limb from limb. But as long as he dragged his feet, he wouldn't have to deal with them until they returned from school.

"I am certain they will not physically harm you." DECA assured him.

"So am I," Andros replied, grabbing a towel and heading to the bathroom.

Andros stood in the shower, savoring the hot water as long as he could before his fingers began wrinkling. He sighed as he got dressed and headed to the workbay, where he hoped the others had just finished eating. They would head to school after eating and, according to DECA, he would be ensured at least six whole hours before having to see them again.

Andros walked through the doorway, stopping in his tracks when he was met with five cold glares all at once. He quickly averted his gaze to a nearby wall and retrieved his meal from the Synthetron, not wanting to turn around to face their eyes again.

Andros' eyes zeroed in on the only empty seat at the end of the table and sat down, keeping his eyes on his food as he slowly brought one bite to his mouth after another.

"Morning," Zhane finally said.

"Morning," Andros mumbled back without looking up.

"Anymore dreams last night?"

"None like before," he answered, as his plan of distracting them from the sleepwalking seemed to be slipping through the cracks already. But he had forgotten to ask DECA if he had slept soundly.

They all ate silently for a while, except Carlos who tapped his fork against the table, trying to hold back his anger. He glanced at Ashley, watching her wipe away a few tears most likely left over from having to repeat Andros' words.

Carlos angrily slammed his fork down onto his plate. "I can't do this," he said, looking around at everyone whose eyes had suddenly glued onto their own food. He returned his gaze to Andros.

"You know, next time you decide to pass judgment on us, try saying it to _all_ of us. Ashley doesn't represent us," he fumed.

Andros stopped eating and looked up at him, his plan secured once more, but unsure of the best response. "I didn't mean to offend anyone…"

"Yeah right," Cassie said sarcastically. "The 'worst rangers in the universe'? Yeah, no offense taken."

"You haven't known us twenty-four hours and you've already decided that you want us to be your enemies," T.J. said, trying not to sound as angry as the others. But he glanced over and saw Ashley's tears, quickly deciding that he didn't care. "What exactly do you want from us?"

"I… don't want anything," Andros said, uncomfortably shifting in his seat. "I only repeated what I had heard on Omni-8."

"It doesn't matter where you heard it. It was something that you should have kept to yourself," Carlos said.

"You're right and I'm sorry that I said it."

"That's not good enough," Carlos said, standing up. "You should be apologizing to Ashley."

Andros looked to Ashley, who kept her eyes on her plate and ate silently. He opened his mouth to speak but Carlos interrupted him.

"Don't," he simply said. "Do you even know what you're apologizing for?"

Andros shrugged slightly. He really wasn't sure what to apologize for first. "For upsetting her, I guess."

"You're pathetic, man," Carlos muttered.

"Do you want me to apologize or not?" Andros asked, sure that he should be less angry than he sounded.

"If you apologize, you should, at the very least, mean it," Cassie sighed, the frustration absent from her face and voice as she stood up.

Andros shook his head. "I don't know what you want me to say."

"Don't _say_ anything," Carlos growled, walking to the door. "Talking seems to be your problem."

Andros looked up at him and narrowed his eyes angrily, suppressing his initial response to jump across the table and grab Carlos. But he wasn't on Omni-8. He didn't have to defend himself like a savage anymore.

After all, he had brought this on himself. Maybe distracting them with anger was a bad idea. Unfortunately, it was his only idea for now. But their anger was already starting to get to him and he glanced from Ashley to Zhane, neither of whom looked back at him.

The rangers walked out of the room silently except Carlos who continued to mutter under his breath. As Ashley walked past Andros, he thought she saw her glance at him apologetically for a second before leaving the Megaship.

Once they had all gone, Andros glared at Zhane, who continued to eat his breakfast.

"Way to come to my defense," Andros said.

"You should be glad I'm speaking to you at all after what you said to Ashley."

"Wasn't prepared for her to tattle to you guys so soon," Andros lied.

"Ashley never said a word against you," Zhane replied, glaring at him. When Andros met his glare with confusion, Zhane sighed. "You _do_ know that DECA has cameras all over the ship, right?" he added.

Andros' cheeks flushed at the return of his own words. Zhane must have been really mad at him, but Andros could not understand why he was taking things so personally unless…

"So is she your girlfriend or something the reason that you're making such a big deal out of this?" Andros asked.

Zhane pushed his plate away and frowned. "She shouldn't have to be my girlfriend for you to be nice to her."

"I really didn't mean to hurt her feelings."

"Yeah, you did. That's the problem. You _did_ mean to hurt her feelings."

"Well, I tried to apologize… but apparently that isn't good enough." But Andros knew that if he had actually meant it, it might have gone over a little better.

"Of course, it's not good enough if you don't mean it," Zhane replied, reading his mind effortlessly.

Andros shook his head and brought a forkful of his now cold breakfast to his mouth.

Zhane stood up and walked away from the table, pausing before he reached the doorway and turning back to Andros. "Look, I'm meeting the guys at the Surf Spot later. If you want to come, give me a heads up."

"What's the Surf Spot?"

"A hangout spot on Earth."

Andros shuddered a little. "Earth, huh?"

"Yeah," Zhane replied. "Now that I've found you, I'd like to have a life outside of the Megaship."

Andros looked down at his plate sadly. "Sorry," he said softly.

Zhane folded his arms and sighed. "Don't do that," he said, once Andros had lifted his head again.

"What?"

Zhane put his hands in his jacket pockets and shook his head. After all these years, he still could not understand how Andros managed to apologize for something and make _him_ feel bad. But maybe it was because he knew that Andros was apologizing for another reason.

"Never mind," he said, not sure that he wanted to address the situation with Ashley. "I'll be on the Simudeck for the next few hours."

"Fine," Andros replied.

Zhane headed out the door again, but pulled himself back and turned to face Andros again. "I need you to know something."

Andros lifted his head again, sure that he'd never finish his breakfast. "What is it?"

"You _do _know that if I thought that something like the command center destruction had been their fault or that if I felt that they needed more training, I wouldn't have let them keep their morphers?" Zhane walked out the door and to the Megalift.

"I know." Andros poked at his food again, eventually dropping his fork onto his plate.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Two hours had passed before Zhane finally defeated the last of the craterites that surrounded him on the Simudeck. This level of training had always been frustrating to him but now was necessary. Forty craterites fighting him at an expert level would make him faster, he hoped. He had already defeated the program's highest level eight times since he had stepped onto the Simudeck but he did not feel as though he was getting any faster at it. Now that Andros had returned to him, the fear that he might be taken away again would always be in the back of Zhane's mind. And he had to assume that Dark Specter would try it again.

But maybe Dark Specter had already done something to him. That scar on Andros' head seemed to indicate that something had been done to his head, possibly something that caused him to attack the others in his sleep.

"Stop simulation," Zhane called out, forcing the simulated Karovan background away.

He walked over to a corner of the Simudeck and pressed a button along the wall. A brief hiss sounded as a small screen rose from the wall and an image of the Simudeck appeared on it.

"DECA, go back to when Andros started attacking us," Zhane ordered.

The video blanked out for a moment, flashing back on to show Andros wandering into the cargo bay. Zhane watched intently as he entered the screen and begin talking to Andros.

"_I thought you had gone to bed," he had said, receiving no response from Andros as he continued to walk toward the cargo bay doors._

"_You're not awake are you?" Zhane had asked him after a moment, going up to Andros and pushing him away from the console that would open the doors._

_But as soon as he had placed a hand on Andros' shoulder, Andros had struck him hard on the chest, surprising Zhane enough to allow the force of it to take him to the ground._

Zhane sighed and pressed another button to forward the footage to the moment just before the doors were opened.

"I'm sorry. It's my fault she's gone," Andros had said opening the doors.

He _had_ dreamt of Karone, Zhane recalled. He must have meant her, when he said that she was gone. Most of Andros' dreams about Karone were usually just memories of the day that she was taken. But this was much different than any nightmare that Andros had ever had before.

Zhane paused the footage at the moment that he appeared on the screen and spoke to Andros, deep in thought. Andros had not looked at him until the exact second that he was touched. He had continued to walk to the doors even before Zhane had attempted to stop him.

All of a sudden, Zhane understood. Andros' intention must not have been to kill them at all, only himself. Tears began to sting Zhane's eyes as he brought his angry fist into the screen over and over until it finally broke. He ignored the coldness of the blood as it ran down his hand and he leaned against the wall, the truth sinking in and the pain that it brought seeming to shake his entire body.

It was starting all over again, or worse, things were continuing where they had left off before Andros had been taken to Omni-8. Zhane remembered the last three times that he had caught Andros with something sharp to his wrists after strings of nightmares about Karone and their fallen comrades, whose deaths had destroyed the voice within him that urged him to live on. But now, it was not even in Andros' control anymore. The entire universe appeared to be against Andros' very existence now.

_No_, Zhane thought. _Dark Specter was against his existence, against the existence of all Power Rangers. It couldn't just be Andros… even if there was a prophecy_.

Zhane shook his head and ran his hands through his hair, not wanting to think about the prophecy anymore than he wanted to remember what Andros had said to Ashley. But he did not have time to think about it much as the glass in his hand lightly scraped his scalp and he jerked his hand back, looking at his hand. It did not look as bad as it suddenly felt.

He carefully picked out the larger pieces of glass from his hand and made his way to the Megalift to the infirmary. As the doors closed behind him, Zhane searched his hand for more glass under the brighter lights inside of the Megalift.

"What happened to your hand?" Zhane heard and jumped, finding Andros standing beside him.

"You really didn't see me here?" Andros asked as Zhane returned his attention to his hand. "I thought you were just ignoring me."

Zhane debated silently whether he should tell Andros what he had determined about his sleepwalking, ultimately deciding that he would get excuses out of Andros one way or another.

"What did you do on the Simudeck last night?" Zhane asked and Andros lowered his eyes. "You sat there for an hour before Ashley came in, purposely facing away from DECA's cameras. When you stood up, you had blood on your clothes… So what did you do?"

The Megalift opened and Zhane stepped out and walked into the infirmary, somewhat surprised that Andros had followed him. He pulled out the drawer, but Andros grabbed a set of forceps before he could, lowering the lamp above them to where Zhane had intended to lay his hand. Andros pulled over two chairs and sat down silently as Zhane did the same, adjusting the lamp and beginning to remove the tiny pieces of glass.

"You already know what I was doing on the Simudeck," Andros said softly after a while.

"You're still carrying it around with you, aren't you?" Zhane asked sadly.

Andros set down the forceps and reached into his jacket pocket, pulling a small thin shard of metal from his pocket and setting it down by Zhane's hand before picking up the forceps again.

"We talked about this, Andros," Zhane sighed.

"_You_ talked," Andros replied. "But it doesn't change what happened or anything that I've done."

"Killing yourself won't either. And it won't bring them back."

"I wasn't trying to," Andros said, scanning for more glass in Zhane's hand. "Not yet, anyway… I kept thinking about the Rebels and all the people back home counting on me. Then I started thinking about the prophecy and the little cuts… got a little deeper I guess."

Zhane glanced up at him, but Andros would not meet his eyes. "I was just thinking about the prophecy," he said. "And I very quickly decided not to think about it. Maybe you should try to do the same."

"That's easy for you to say," Andros said, finally looking up at him. "The prophecy isn't about you."

"Andros, there's no prophecy," Zhane said. "It was something probably invented by Dark Specter to distract us from what he's really up to."

Andros looked back to Zhane's hand. "The first in fifty years," he said softly, reciting the rest of the prophecy in his head. "The destruction of many worlds…"

"Every hundred years or so, a prophecy of some kind is uncovered, then it happens and it doesn't change anything. And guess how many of the prophecies involve the destruction of universes and worlds?"

"How many?" Andros asked him and Zhane rolled his eyes.

"Rhetorical question," Zhane said. "But I'm sure that they all do."

Andros nodded and looked up from Zhane's hand. "Fine," he said. "So do we just ignore the fact that I attacked you guys?"

"Not at all," Zhane said. "In fact, I asked you about the cutting because –"

"The sleepwalking thing?" Andros finished. "I noticed it too… that I only attacked you when you tried to stop me from killing myself… I guess my subconscious wants me dead too."

Zhane glanced up at him, seeing a hint of a smile on Andros' lips. "Was that …a joke?" he asked.

"Not much of one if it turns out to be true," he answered, carefully pulled a piece of glass from between Zhane's knuckles, watching him barely react to it.

"I see that we still have to work on your sense of humor," Zhane said, shaking his head. "But I hope that you're actually hearing me this time when I tell you that your death won't solve anything."

"I know," Andros said, grabbing the antiseptic and gauze from the drawer. "I guess I just haven't had the pleasure of being selfish in a while."

"You mean, since you became a ranger?" Zhane asked.

Andros didn't answer as he shook the antiseptic spray and sprayed it onto Zhane's hand. Zhane retracted his hand quickly and winced.

"You're such a wuss," Andros said, placing the spray in the drawer and pulling Zhane's hand back to him, beginning to wrap it.

"Very funny," Zhane said, unable to keep from smiling at having his own words thrown back at him.

"So are you ever going to tell me what you did to your hand?" Andros asked. "Craterites shouldn't be able to do this kind of damage."

"Just getting out some frustration," Zhane said. "But I think that I'll be okay."

"Good."

Andros finished wrapping Zhane's hand in silence and stood up when he was finished, preparing to leave the infirmary.

"Two years," he heard Zhane whisper behind him and he turned around. There were tears in Zhane's eyes as he sat rubbing his hand to release some of the pressure from the tight gauze. "You were gone for two whole years."

"Yeah," Andros replied uncomfortably.

"You're gone for two years and then I find you," Zhane said gently, controlling his voice as he spoke carefully. "No, I don't _find_ you. I almost pass by you and… and the others pick up on a huge energy reading. I thought maybe it was the Rebels, but there you were…"

"Zhane –" Andros began, but Zhane swallowed the lump in his throat and held up his hand.

"And then after two years, I patch you up and, in the same night, you're on the Simudeck trying to kill yourself," Zhane continued. "So I have to wonder, did you wait until I could be a witness to your death before trying to kill yourself? Because you could have very easily died on Omni-8 if the wound on your side is any indication of what you had to go through."

"I'd be lying if I told you that I didn't try to die there," Andros replied. "But I thought about my family –you, the other rangers, everyone back home waiting for the Astrorangers to tell them that it's safe to go back home… and I couldn't be selfish like that."

"Only now?" Zhane said. "What changed between the time that you left Omni-8 and last night? It sounds like the same thoughts went through your head –the Rebels, the rangers, family. What was different this time?"

"The difference was that I hadn't just nearly killed you," Andros said. "If I'm going to be a danger to you and the others, then I _shouldn't_ be here –that's what I was thinking… But I forgot a lot of details that require me to be around for a while."

"Like what?"

Andros sighed and rolled his eyes. "_Zhane_," he whined. "Don't make me say it. You know what."

"Does it involve _missing_ me?" Zhane asked, beginning to mess with his head a little.

"It's possible," Andros said, turning back toward the door.

"_Why_ would you miss me?" Zhane asked with a smile.

"Don't push it, Zhane," Andros said, walking out of the infirmary, though there was a smile on his face as well.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

(On the Dark Fortress)

"So, what do you have to report, Darkonda?" Astronema asked, ignoring Ecliptor's anger when Darkonda began to respond.

"The count, including the previous rangers, brings the total to at least five humans," he said.

"Can you verify that?" Astronema asked, sitting at the edge of her seat.

"I can. In fact, I was a witness to three of them," Darkonda answered.

Astronema smiled deviously. "Excellent. Then _you_ will confront the rangers, but don't tell them what you know. We'll let the Red Ranger suffer a little first, but do _not_ destroy him… Not without Dark Specter's permission."

"What shall I do with the other rangers?" Darkonda asked slyly.

"Do whatever you wish with them," Astronema said with a wave of her hand. "They will only try to interfere with our plans. But the Red Ranger is _not _to be harmed, do you understand?"

"Of course, Princess Astronema." Darkonda untied a rope from around his waist that held a small cloth bag to his side. He handed the bag to Astronema, who opened the bag and smiled at the contents inside.

"Where did you find these?" Astronema asked, although she didn't really care.

"Dark Specter allowed me to take two of his personal trophies from his ship and the other three were acquired on Omni-8," Darkonda explained. "And of course, all of them should hold some meaning for the Red Ranger."

"Then, they are priceless," Astronema replied with a smile, closing the bag and tossing it back into Darkonda's hands. "You already know the plan well, Darkonda. It is now time for you to attack the rangers."

"As you command," Darkonda said, disappearing from the ship.

"That Darkonda is certainly something," Astronema thought aloud.

"I do not trust him," Ecliptor said.

"Darkonda's plan is brilliant, Ecliptor. I will not have you constantly finding fault with him."

"Believe me, my princess. Darkonda cannot be trusted."

"How do you know him?" Astronema asked after a short pause.

"He and I worked together long ago… if you can call it that," Ecliptor said, just barely suppressing his anger over having ever met Darkonda. "In the end, he betrayed me and I fear he will do the same to you."

"Are you certain that I have never met Darkonda before?" Astronema asked, turning her head away from Ecliptor while he pondered how to answer her.

"Perhaps you did once," Ecliptor finally decided.

Astronema turned back to him sharply. "You have been by my side for as long as I can remember Ecliptor," she began. "You have personally introduced me to every monster and villain that I know yourself, including Dark Specter. Somehow, I expect more than a 'perhaps' from you."

"You met him once when you were a child," Ecliptor replied, dropping his head and clenching his fists. "But only once… After that day, I tried to ensure that he would never go near you again."

"And what was it that he did to me that upset you so much, Ecliptor?" Astronema asked as she stood from her seat and walked to the door.

"His intent was to harm you," Ecliptor said. "That is why I do not trust his allegiance to you."

Astronema lowered her eyes and stood silently, rethinking her deal with Darkonda. She couldn't put it past him to try something like that. Lesser beings had tried to do away with her, so why wouldn't he?

"Then, I will put you in charge of watching him, Ecliptor," she said, turning to him. "Follow him wherever he goes and make sure that he sticks to the plan."

Ecliptor bowed in acknowledgement and honor. "Yes, my princess," he said before disappearing from the ship.

Astronema narrowed her eyes, letting out a grunt of frustration. She was certain now that Ecliptor would continue to be cryptic about her past with Darkonda.

But it was just a matter of time before everyone knew the truth, she thought, including Ecliptor and the Red Ranger.


	10. Chapter 10

Ch 10

"Well, how about this?" Zhane asked, holding out a bright red T-shirt and a pair of jeans.

Andros sighed and shook his head. Only a couple of hours had gone by, but it felt like they had been at the mall forever. He had forgotten how much he hated shopping and they had been to at least six other stores looking at clothes that just didn't seem to be his style, including the clothes that Zhane had let him wear for the time being.

"You're worse than Cassie and Ashley," Zhane said, putting them back on the rack. "You've got to pick something."

Andros walked over to a table and picked up a few shirts. "What about these?"

Zhane glanced from Andros to the clothes and back again. "Hmm…"

Andros raised his head. "What? No good?"

"No, they're good. They're just…"

"Just what?" Andros asked, setting the shirts back on the table and walking over to a rack of clothes.

"Blue."

"Something wrong with blue?" Andros asked.

"No... They're just not…"

"Not…?" Andros pressed.

"Not… red." Zhane shuffled through a few shirts on a nearby table.

"I don't really see that as a bad thing." Andros replied.

Zhane glanced up at him and shook his head. "Hmm…"

Andros let out a deep breath. "Why is it that the Red Ranger is doomed to wear his color all the time?"

Zhane looked around nervously and walked over to Andros. "Keep it down. You can't talk about being a ranger around here."

"Why not?"

"Zordon said," Zhane said simply.

"Oh," Andros said.

"I don't guess you _have _to wear red." Zhane picked the shirts back up and handed them to Andros. "I just assumed… Hey, what about this?" He picked up another shirt from the table.

"I'm pretty sure that's still red."

"It's closer to brown than red."

Andros shook his head slowly. "It's still red."

"Okay, okay." Zhane put it back down and let out a breath.

"Look, it's your money. So, pick out whatever you want me to wear."

"They're _your_ clothes. So, _you_ need to pick. Although, I'm sure that should be enough of a reason for me to pick out your clothes anyway. You never did have much taste in clothes."

Andros ignored him and rummaged around for a while, passing by any and all red shirts around him. "So, where did you get money anyway?"

"A couple of weeks ago the owner of The Surf Spot, Adelle, needed help waiting tables when two of her employees couldn't come in. So, I volunteered."

"You _do _know that 'volunteer' means that you shouldn't have been paid?" Andros picked up a dark green shirt, checking the size and putting the extra-large shirt back on the rack.

"Adelle didn't pay me, but she said I could keep any tips I got. Almost two hundred dollars for working six hours."

"Does that go far here?" Two hundred baklos could only buy a nice shirt on KO-35, but that was all.

"Not really," Zhane answered, leafing through a shelf of jeans. "It might buy you a few really good outfits… Or a few good pairs of shoes."

"You aren't going to use up all of your money on me, are you?"

"Yeah, right," Zhane answered more quickly than Andros had expected. "Ashley taught me that the most important word in shopping is 'clearance'… or was it 'charge card'?"

Andros couldn't help shuddering at the mention of her name. He tried not to replay his conversations with her in his head, but he knew it would probably come to him whenever he saw her. He was silent a moment and he wondered if Zhane might have let his mind drift to Ashley's tears earlier that morning.

"You never answered my question before," Andros said, hoping to keep Zhane's mind off of the unpleasantness of the Ashley situation for a while longer.

"What question?" Zhane walked over to Andros, holding up a white shirt with a red collar and cuffs.

Andros shook his head at the clothes and looked back to the rack of clothes he had looked through at least twice. "I asked you if Ashley was your girlfriend, but you didn't really answer me."

Zhane put the shirts on the rack and smiled to himself. "What do you care?"

Andros stopped rummaging through the clothes and turned to Zhane, who continued his search. "I guess I don't really care…"

"You interested in her or something?"

"No," Andros said more quickly than he had expected, nearly shouting. "I mean… she's probably a nice girl, but I just met her yesterday."

Zhane finally glanced up at him, putting down the few shirts he had picked up earlier. "It's called love at first sight. Ever heard of it?"

"I have," Andros said. "But that isn't what this is. Believe me."

"Okay," Zhane said unbelievingly.

Zhane was silent again as he continued to rummage through clothes. Andros picked up and put down the shirts he had briefly glanced at a moment earlier. He looked back at Zhane, waiting for him to speak, but Zhane continued to rummage.

"Well?" Andros asked.

"Well, what?" Zhane didn't look up.

"You and Ashley… "

"We're just friends," Zhane said with a smile, glancing up in time to see Andros frown a little. "Disappointed?"

Andros looked up briefly before walking over to a new rack of clothes. "Not really… I'm a little surprised, though."

"Why?"

"Because she's a living, breathing, woman."

"Thanks. That doesn't make me sound bad at all." Zhane said sarcastically.

"Come on, Zhane. You dated almost every girl back home except Sadi and Skye… also surprisingly."

"I wasn't that bad," Zhane picked out a few blue shirts and held them up, waiting for Andros' approval. "Besides, I've always hated Sadi."

Andros looked at the varying shades of blue, quickly scanning for any red material. There was none, so he finally nodded in approval.

"And Skye…?" Andros asked.

"... always belonged to you." Zhane finished, handing over the clothes. "Try these on and I'll start looking for pants."

Andros took the clothes and looked at them again. "Skye… didn't _belong_ to me. I just –I couldn't just –," he stammered as an image of Skye's smiling face entered his thoughts briefly as it often had in the past two years. And as it always did, it was quickly replaced with the sadness he had seen in her face the last time he saw her.

"I know," Zhane said, rolling his eyes at how pathetic Andros could be at times. He had never seemed to get how relationships worked. Even having a beautiful girl throw herself at him for the past fifteen years was not enough of a hint for the thick-headed Red Ranger. However, he could not help but feel comforted at the same time, knowing that Andros may not have changed as much as he'd thought.

"But she's always been in love with you," he added, draping a pair of pants over Andros' arm.

Andros reddened at the thought, turning to find a dressing room. He didn't want to think about that now. Even if Skye had waited for him, he couldn't get to her now. The Rebels had seemingly disappeared off the face of the universe and Skye along with them. He was already depressed enough without thinking about what Skye might say to him after having no contact with her for two whole years.

"I'm sure she's all right wherever she is," Zhane said just as Andros took a step toward the dressing room. "I'm sure that knowing you're out here looking for her and the other Rebels will be more than enough to keep her going."

Andros sighed softly and silently made his way to the dressing room, avoiding eye contact with Zhane as he closed the door behind him. Zhane always seemed to know what to say to make him feel worse.

Even if the Rebels were okay, they would never forgive him for staying away so long. And they certainly would not forgive him for what he had done on Omni-8. He had not made peace with that yet himself.

And what would he do if Skye had moved on? Or worse, what if Skye had died?

He'd be alone, he thought sadly as he took off Zhane's black shirt and put on a bright blue one. He'd be alone, just as he deserved to be.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Where are we?" Andros asked, looking at the building that he and Zhane stood in front of.

"This is The Surf Spot," Zhane answered, pointing up at the sign over the entrance and heading for the door. "It's right next to the school."

"That's where you made that money, right?"

"Yep," Zhane replied and waited for Andros to follow him.

He turned around when he realized that Andros hadn't moved.

"What's wrong?" Zhane asked.

Andros looked away from him, watching as a group of students walked into The Surf Spot. They seemed happy enough for people living in a place where monsters supposedly attacked all of the time.

"Is it… _really_ different?" he asked, glancing at Zhane to see his reaction.

"Not _really_ different," Zhane assured him with a sigh. "It's just like home, but… I don't know, brighter maybe."

Andros finally joined Zhane at the door, still not as enthusiastic as he wanted to be about going in.

"What are you _really_ worried about?" Zhane asked, sighing again. He was starting to get hungry and irritable, less than enthusiastic about having to deal with Andros in depression mode.

"I don't want to be here," Andros answered softly.

"Then why'd you come with me?"

"No, what I mean is… I'm supposed to be here with Talli or Skye or…"

"But you're not," Zhane was taken aback by the harsh tone of voice that he used, knowing how fragile Andros could be sometimes. He could see that Andros was equally surprised and Zhane looked back at him apologetically.

"I'm sorry," Zhane said. "I just… I miss everybody too and I hate that I don't even know if they're okay."

Andros nodded sadly, unable to look up at Zhane as tears clouded his eyes.

"But _we_ are here," Zhane continued. "And as much as I miss them, I can still be glad that I'm here and you should be too."

"Sorry," Andros said quietly, the tears suddenly gone.

Zhane opened the door with one hand, pushing Andros inside with the other. "We'll find the Rebels and they'll be okay. Then we can take a nice vacation back here with our families and finally relax."

Andros nodded as he and Zhane made their way through the crowded teen hangout, immediately being flagged down by the other rangers who sat at a table on the other side of the room.

As they made their way around tables and several hungry people, Andros looked around at the Surf Spot. Zhane was right about everything being brighter. Everything was so decorated… and colorful, he thought as a girl with several rings on her face and ears waved over a girl with a short pink dress with multi-colored striped tights underneath. There weren't any uniforms here and not one person was wearing the same thing as anyone else. Suddenly, Andros felt even more out of place. Earth already seemed more different than he had once thought.

But he turned his attention to the rangers, whose faces reflected all of the anger and hurt from that morning as he drew closer to their table.

"Hey, guys," Zhane greeted them happily, taking a seat beside Cassie and helping himself to a few of the French fries in the center of the table.

No one seemed to hear him, least of all Carlos who rolled his eyes and turned away from Andros, muttering, "Who invited you?"

Andros took a deep breath, having prepared for this all day. "Look, I want to apologize for what I said about your team… and I especially want to apologize to you, Ashley."

He looked at her, not surprised that he had already had her attention. All except Carlos had turned to listen to him.

"I knew that what I said was hurtful before I said it and… I really am sorry that I said it," Andros continued. "I've already fought alongside you guys, so I know that there's nothing wrong with your team."

Carlos opened his mouth to speak and Andros rushed on, hoping to wrap up this embarrassing moment. "And I don't expect any of you to forgive me right away, if ever. I probably wouldn't if it were me… "

"I forgive you," Ashley said sincerely, but also feeling how embarrassed he was at having to apologize in a room full of people, most of which were nosy enough to have turned around to listen.

Andros looked up at her and she smiled, surprising him a little. Once again, he wished that he could smile back at her. "Thank you," he said quietly.

"Then I guess we can forgive you too," T.J. said with a smile and Cassie nodded.

"Speak for yourselves," Carlos said, looking at them in frustration.

"Life's too short to hold a grudge, Carlos," Cassie put a hand on his shoulder and he shrugged it off, leaving her feeling a little hurt.

"Sorry," he said quietly. "But it shouldn't be that easy… He insulted us. Why is it so easy for you guys to even believe him, let alone accept his apology?"

"Because I think he's telling the truth this time," Ashley said. "A lot happened to Andros yesterday, Carlos. I'd like to believe that he was just stressed out from everything that happened… and maybe a little angry about being lied to about that dream." She looked over at Andros who nodded.

"If you remember, _I_ was the only one who wanted to tell him right away. But I guess I don't get credit for that," Carlos snapped angrily. He let out a deep breath and calmed down a bit. "You guys can forgive him, but… I need more time."

Andros sat down at the table between Zhane and Ashley, immediately uncomfortable with sitting next to the person he had brought to tears less than twenty-four hours ago. It was silent for a moment until Zhane finally decided to order some food, but then it was silent again except for the overlapping voices surrounding them.

"So," T.J. began slowly, looking at Andros. "Did you want to get it over with and just switch morphers with me?"

Andros looked down at his newly-bought blue shirt and jeans. "Oh… uh. I –"

"I'm kidding," T.J. said with a laugh. "I just don't know if I've met a ranger who didn't wear their color," he added softly.

"I thought we weren't supposed to talk about this ranger stuff in public," Andros said, glancing over at Zhane.

"We aren't," Cassie replied, taking a quick glance around. "As long as no one else hears us, we're okay."

"And as crowded as this place is today, I doubt it if anyone would be able to hear us," T.J. added.

"Why can't we talk about being rangers?" Andros asked, speaking a little louder. "I mean, I know that Zordon said not to… but why not?"

The others looked at one another and back at Andros. No one spoke for a moment, unsure of how to answer or even why it was necessary to answer. Carlos was the first to break the silence.

"When Zordon says not to do something, you don't do it. Plain and simple," he snapped. "You got some problem with authority?"

"The thing is… if people find out who the Power Rangers are, they'll do exactly what Zordon doesn't want… they'll make us celebrities," T.J. said. "And we don't do this for any rewards. Then, there's the fact that our families would be in danger if a villain happened to be in on the secret. Besides, if people knew about you and Zhane, they might really –"

"Freak out?" Cassie inputted.

"In a manner of speaking… yeah," T.J. answered.

"I don't understand," Andros said, shaking his head. "Why are we a big deal?"

"Some people might be kind of… nervous about the thought of interacting with people from other planets," Ashley tried to explain. She looked around at the others, wondering if she should go into very much detail about what could happen.

"What could happen?" Andros asked, reading her thoughts briefly.

Just then, the sound of the Surf Spot doors bursting open was heard and everyone turned to the doorway. Two men ran into the room, wielding a long thick hose, which wrapped around their bodies and dragged along the floor. They stumbled over it as they reached the center of the room.

"Bulk, Skull, what are you two doing?" Adelle asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"Relax, citizens," Bulk said loudly. "We heard from a reliable source that there are aliens in this establishment."

"Yeah, that's right." Skull took a step forward, stumbling over the hose again as a significant length of it fell from his shoulder. "So show yourselves, you slimy aliens," he added.

"That's one thing that could happen," Cassie said, turning to Andros.

"We know you're in here," Bulk shouted. "Our detector is picking up your alien essence all over this place."

"Come on, guys," T.J. said. "You don't really believe there are aliens, do you?"

Bulk shuffled over to the rangers' table, pulling Skull along with him as well as the heavy hose. "Of course we do," he answered. "And don't think that you guys aren't suspects just because we know you."

He looked at the teens, resting his eyes on Andros. "We've never seen _you_ before… which makes you our newest prime suspect."

The curiosity was killing him. "What will you do if you _do_ find any aliens?" Andros asked, not at all threatened by the bumbling duo in front of him although he could feel the others eyeing him nervously.

"That's classified information, buddy," Skull replied, though Andros could see by the way he and Bulk looked at one another that they had no idea.

"What I mean is… what will _that_ do?" Andros asked, nodding at the hose.

"_This_ will reveal the true form of any cowardly alien disguised as a human," Skull informed. "Then, we take the alien to NASADA and we'll be rich."

"How will you be rich?" Andros asked, ignoring a warning kick from Zhane.

"If we can bring a real live alien to NASADA, we prove that life exists on other planets and we'll be famous," Bulk explained, the frustration of answering questions and of having to hold the tube beginning to show on his face.

Andros wondered if he should go on. Messing with these guys was kind of… fun. On the other hand, the others seemed to be getting more nervous with every minute. But what were they afraid of? It wasn't as though he and Zhane were actually aliens… Well, not the aliens that they were looking for.

"But don't monsters attack Angel Grove all the time?" Andros asked.

"Yeah, so?" Skull inquired.

"Well, isn't that proof enough that there's life on other planets?"

Bulk and Skull glanced at one another in silence. Andros kind of had a point. They looked back to him, narrowing their eyes.

"All these questions aren't helping your case, buddy," Skull said. "So far, you're still the prime suspect in this room."

"Yeah, enough talk," Bulk said, reaching behind him to flip a switch on the hose. It made a loud whirring sound as it charged up and Bulk pointed the hose at Andros. "There's only one way to clear your name now."


	11. Chapter 11

Ch 11

Everything was suddenly a blur, but it took Andros a moment to realize that he and the others were running. He finally tugged at his arm, planting his feet in the ground to stop himself from being pulled any longer. But Zhane held tightly onto his arm, leading him and the others down the hallway, which Andros could only assume belonged to the school.

Zhane slowed to a stop when he reached the end of the hallway and let go of Andros' arm. He let out a long breath and looked around for the other rangers who trailed behind him. He glanced at Andros, who stood catching his breath before finally meeting Zhane's eyes. Before he could stop himself, Zhane angrily pushed him into the lockers.

Andros was close enough to the lockers that it wasn't much of a push, but it was just annoying enough for him to push Zhane back. But Zhane barely moved backward and pushed him back against the lockers.

"You don't get to be angry right now," Zhane fumed. "What did you think you were doing back there?"

"What are you talking about?" Andros asked, looking around at the others who either avoided his eyes or stared surprisingly at an unusually angry Zhane. But he already knew what Zhane meant.

He hadn't meant to do it, but considering the fact that he'd had the contents of a hose released in his face, he felt that his actions were pretty tame. Telekinetically turning the foamy liquid back at them had been an unfortunate reflex, but it had been an accident and it did not seem to have hurt them. Besides, after the hose had been turned on, there were so many people running from it in panic that no one could have possibly seen exactly what happened.

"You cannot do things like that in public," Zhane said. "No telekinesis, no mind reading –none of that stuff! Not in public!"

Andros rolled his eyes and, figuring that it was better than nothing, nodded in response. But Zhane shook his head in disbelief.

"You still don't get it, do you?" Zhane asked, allowing some of his anger to drain away to make room for his increasing frustration.

"I don't get why you're overreacting," Andros admitted. "I don't think that anyone really saw what happened. And those two –"

"Your biggest worry will never be Bulk and Skull," Zhane interrupted. "But you still have to be careful about who you do those things around. We're still trying to keep a low profile."

"Meaning what?"

Zhane looked away from him for a minute and sighed. "Andros, we're very close to the NASADA base… What do you think they'll do if they find out that there are humans that can do the things we can do?"

"If monsters have been attacking here as long as you say they have, why –" Andros shrugged uncaringly.

"Exactly," Zhane interrupted. "_Monsters _have been attacking Angel Grove. And some of them have been smart enough to take human form. So I doubt that NASADA would take a chance on us. I don't want you to obsess about this stuff, but we can do things that most humans can't and that can scare people. And scared people do… well, stupid things without thinking like… turning us in to NASADA. So you have to be careful."

"_Scared_ people?" Andros asked, looking back up at Zhane. "If we explain that we're Power Rangers, they probably won't be scared."

"If they're willing to listen to us, that might work," Zhane answered. "But there are people who may not want to try to understand, which tends to happen in the midst of panic. Besides, there's a chance that Astronema doesn't know what we all look like just yet and if she's watching Earth long enough, a panic like that may just catch her attention and lead her straight to us… Look, just be careful with the telekinesis from now on…please."

Andros nodded again. "Sorry," he added, lifting his head and looking at his friend.

Before Zhane could reply, a series of explosions sounded outside, shaking the school. The rangers regained their balance and ran out of the building, in search of the source of the explosions.

Amongst the panic of the people in the streets, several quantrons were attacking all around the school. The rangers began to charge at them, but Andros extended an arm, holding them back for a moment.

"What are you doing?" Carlos asked in frustration. "We need to –"

"No, wait," Andros said distantly, still staring at the quantrons. "Look at them."

The rangers looked around at the quantrons, who were not attacking anyone or anything in particular. Some turned over trashcans and others beat their weapons on empty cars.

"Is it just me or are they just… randomly attacking?" Andros asked.

"I don't think that they're even looking for us," Zhane said.

"_What_ are they attacking?" Cassie asked.

"Wrong question," T.J. said, watching as two quantrons repeatedly kicked an outdoor vending machine. "_Why_ are they attacking?"

"Maybe they _are_ waiting for us," Andros said. "And if so, then this might be a trap."

"Well, we still have to stop them before they cause more damage to the city," Carlos argued.

"Carlos is right," Ashley said, although the others were right too. The whole situation seemed to have 'trap' written all over it.

"Fine," Andros said. "Let's just be careful."

As soon as they morphed, the rangers ran toward the quantrons who all backed away in response. Andros looked around, not convinced that quantrons would have attacked Earth alone. They were creating a distraction, albeit not a very convincing one. But that meant that there was some big bad monster making its way toward the rangers that they couldn't see yet.

As he guessed, a low and menacing laugh broke through the air, followed by a collection of screams. The quantrons in front of them suddenly disappeared and the rangers ran off toward the screams.

Behind the school, the rangers spotted a monster closing in on a group of students. As soon as they arrived, he turned his head to them, locking eyes with the Red Ranger in particular.

"Let them go!" the Red Ranger yelled to the monster. "Your fight is with us."

"You're absolutely right," he replied, his yellow eyes glowing brighter and sending out a beam of energy at the rangers. "My fight _is_ with the Power Rangers, especially you, Red Ranger," he added as the rangers hit the ground.

The rangers helped each other to their feet and prepared to fight, but the monster never moved. He knew that they couldn't do much in retaliation as long as those people were right behind him. They all charged at him with their weapons, hoping to create enough of a distraction to let the people get away, but another beam from his eyes sent them back to the ground.

Suddenly, the monster was surrounded by several quantrons and all the rangers could see of him was the strike of a sword before he and the quantrons disappeared.

The rangers rushed over to the group of people, all who seemed to be in one piece and very relieved to be rid of the monster.

"Are you all okay?" the Red Ranger asked, helping one of the teens to their feet.

"Yeah, I think so," she answered, looking around at the other students who all agreed. "Thanks."

"Anytime," the Silver Ranger replied as the students began dispersing in different directions.

"We should get back to the ship," the Yellow Ranger said, almost whispering as she looked around at the last of the students who disappeared behind the building.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"What do you think that was all about?" Zhane asked.

"Don't know," T.J. answered, shaking his head.

"It was obviously a distraction," Ashley said. "But what did they want?"

"No, that was a trap," Andros corrected. "And we did exactly what they wanted us to do –we walked right into it."

"So, what now?" Cassie wondered aloud. "As far as we know, those people weren't hurt or anything. So what did we miss?"

"Why didn't we ask those people any questions?" Andros asked. "They may have seen something that we didn't."

"We couldn't do that," Carlos replied. "Those were kids from our school and they might have recognized our voices."

Andros shook his head. He didn't know how long he would be able to keep up with all of this secret identity stuff. Keeping the secret was just too annoying and unnecessary.

"We can find a way to talk to them about it at school tomorrow," Ashley said.

"Right," T.J. agreed. "We don't know what the monster did, so we just have to wait and see."

Andros looked at the others, who all nodded in agreement. He shook his head again and turned to leave the bridge, but he thought better of it and took his seat at a console. He pressed a few buttons and glanced at one of DECA's cameras.

"DECA, when did I terminate Magic Word 'R.A.F.'?"

"No termination was executed of Magic Word 'R.A.F.'." DECA replied.

"Bring up the last fight on the viewing screen," Andros commanded, pressing a few more buttons before looking up.

"What's Magic Word 'R.A.F.'?" T.J. asked.

"While we're fighting, we may not always see our enemies' weaknesses," Andros began, carefully adjusting the colors on the screen. "So I can initiate a command that records all of our fights so that we can go back and look for anything we missed. 'R.A.F.' –'Record All Fights.'"

The others walked closer to the screen and watched a birds-eye view of the strange attack by the quantrons, followed by the people's screams, and the monster that attacked the rangers. As soon as the monster was surrounded by quantrons and his sword went up, Andros paused the footage.

"Zoom in, 90 percent," Andros said.

The frozen scene increased in size, centering between the monster's raised sword and the students. There was something there, but Andros couldn't quite make it out. It was… some pink thing.

"Does anyone else see anything?" He finally asked after squinting at it for some time.

"You mean that pink thing?" Ashley asked, tilting her head a little and trying to make out the image.

"Is there any way to rotate, DECA?" Andros asked.

"Scene appears as is," DECA answered.

"Zoom in, 110 percent," Andros commanded, watching the pink thing increase in size.

"It looks like it might be a plant or something," Cassie said.

"It is." Andros slid his chair over to another console and urgently pressed a few buttons. "DECA, is there any way you can tell us what kind of plant that is?"

"Species of plant is unknown," DECA replied.

"How soon can you have a list of known pink and harmful plants ready?"

"Over two million such plants exist in the universe," DECA said.

"How many of them exist on Omni-8?" Andros avoided glancing back at the others, all of whom he was sure were staring at him.

"Only three," DECA answered.

"Download pictures, histories, and any information on those three," Andros ordered.

"So you think you've seen this plant before?" Ashley guessed.

"I'm almost positive, but it may not have been native to the planet."

"Well, what did the plant do?"

"I'm not sure," Andros replied, although he wasn't sure if that was true. He had noticed that his dreams had been replaced by ruthless nightmares. They had gotten worse over time and he found himself sleeping less and less. And he couldn't forget that he had attacked the rangers in his sleep, sleepwalking being something he had never done before.

He stood up and walked over to another console to examine the short list of information for the plants and scanned them briefly before pausing as he felt every eye on him. He finally looked up from the list at the others who were indeed staring at him.

"What?" he asked.

"Anything we can do to help?" Ashley asked.

"Umm…" Andros began, feeling himself being pulled back into leadership mode again. "You can… help me narrow down some of those other plants if you want."

"Exactly what should we be looking for with two million results?" T.J. asked.

"Well… we know that the plant was probably harmless until it was cut open…" Andros started, sitting back down. "So, pods or…"

"Spores?" Ashley guessed.

"Exactly," Andros said.

"Still over thirty thousand results," Cassie said, moments after typing in the search.

"Try adding 'non-fatal' to the search," Andros suggested. "I doubt if this monster would be smart enough to try to kill us with spores."

"Um... 'Smart enough'?" Ashley inquired.

"It would be simple enough… We'd breathe the spores in and we'd die," Andros replied offhandedly, deleting a few plants from the list.

Once again, he felt that all eyes were on him and he looked up from his work.

"What now?" he asked.

"Do you… think about things like that very often?" Ashley asked, remembering the red stain on his pants leg the night before.

Andros looked back to the screen in front of him. "Focus, you guys. We need to figure out what this plant is before any damage is done."

"We _are_ focusing," Carlos said. "But if our so-called leader has death on his mind all the time and has already tried to kill us, I start to focus on whose side he's on."

"Of course, I'm on your side," Andros said, although not confident enough in his answer to look anyone in the eye.

"Leave him alone, Carlos," Zhane warned, as Carlos began walking toward Andros.

"We have no reason to trust this guy," Carlos said, standing right in front of Andros and daring him with his presence to look up at him. "He's already attacked us once and he's insulted us. And no one seems to care that this monster, that none of us has ever seen before, specifically called out the Red Ranger."

"He's already apologized for the insult and the sleepwalking thing, which wasn't even his fault." Zhane argued.

"How convenient," Carlos said, finally meeting Andros' worried eyes for a moment.

"Leave him _alone_, Carlos," Zhane said exasperatedly.

"No, Carlos is right," Andros said. "You guys have no reason to trust me right now. You don't know what I could have been exposed to –"

"Did you know that monster that attacked us?" Carlos interrupted angrily.

Andros frowned. "Do you think I work for him or something?"

"Answer the question," Carlos folded his arms.

"You don't have to answer anything, Andros," Zhane said, staring angrily at Carlos. "Your allegiance is not an issue with us."

"Since when?" Carlos asked.

"It has _never_ been an issue," Zhane said firmly.

It was uncomfortably silent for a moment until Andros finally broke the silence. "Guys, let's get back to work."

"Not until we settle something," Carlos said, shaking his head. "Who were you talking to last night?"

"Ashley and Zhane," Andros sighed. "And we all know what happened with that."

"No, after that," Carlos said. "I wanted to tell you the truth about what you did while you were sleepwalking and DECA told me that you were on the bridge. But you were talking to someone when I got there. Who was it?"

Andros looked down at his hands. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Why not?" Carlos asked. "Hiding something?"

"I just don't want to talk about it right now," Andros replied. "It's not essential to the mission at hand."

"How are we supposed to follow you if we can't trust you to tell us anything?" Carlos nearly yelled.

"I'll tell you what I want you to know," Andros snapped, raising his head. "It isn't important and I don't want to talk about it. End of discussion."

"That doesn't exactly show that you trust us," Carlos snapped back.

Andros turned away from the rangers and looked back to the screen on the console, pressing a few buttons.

"You can't just ignore this," Carlos said.

"DECA, add 'nonfatal' to the search," Andros said firmly, ignoring him. "How many results?"

"Six thousand twenty-four results," DECA replied after a short pause.

"Adding 'association with sleepwalking' to the search… How many results, DECA?" he continued, as the others watched on in silence.

"One thousand two hundred forty-eight results," DECA answered.

"Well, it's still over one thousand results," T.J. sighed. "There has to be an easier way to do this."

"If we knew more details, like how many petals or the shape of the leaves…anything," Andros said, browsing through the information on the tiny screen in front of him.

"You don't remember anything else about the plant you saw on Omni-8?" Zhane asked.

"Nothing," Andros said, shaking his head. "I only saw it for a second."

"One thousand plants from two million isn't bad," Ashley said. "But hopefully we'll have a lot more details tomorrow."

But she and the others could see that Andros would not be moved so easily. He didn't answer and he never turned back to face them, continuing to scroll through the information on the screen.

One by one, the others left the bridge, knowing that there was nothing that they could do to convince him to wait until the next day. Within the half-hour, Ashley found herself alone on the bridge with Andros. She sighed softly, wishing she could get through to him, but she already knew that nothing she or anyone else could say would stop his search.

"You don't have to stay," Andros said suddenly, shaking her from her thoughts. He still didn't turn to look at her, but he stopped working momentarily.

Ashley stood up, but didn't leave the bridge. "I know that," she said, walking toward him and sitting in a chair beside him. Although, she had to admit that she felt obligated to stay with him. "I want to help."

"You can't help me anymore than the others can. You don't even know what this thing looks like."

Ashley paused for a moment, hoping that she wouldn't say anything to upset him again. "Well… neither do you. The plant you saw may or may not have been what the monster had."

Andros sighed. "We've barely searched for this thing for a full hour… If I stop the search now –"

"You'll have the same chances of finding it as you would if you didn't stop the search without having confirmation from someone who actually saw it," Ashley finished.

Andros shook his head. "You don't understand," he said, looking up at her. "I'm the only one of us who may have seen this plant before."

"Yes, and everything that you remembered about it was very helpful, but it's time to let it go until tomorrow."

"I don't have anything else to do," Andros said, turning back to the screen. "I may as well continue the search."

"Then I'll help you," Ashley replied with a sigh. "If that's all right with you," she added.

Andros turned to protest but thought better of it and nodded, keeping his eyes on the screen. After all, he could at least admit to himself that he didn't want to be alone. He hardly ever really _wanted_ to be alone.

But he had a feeling that the search might reveal his connection with this monster, something that he wasn't sure he would want to share with the others right away. And he already had a bad feeling about where this monster may have met him.

Another couple of hours passed before Andros realized that Ashley was no longer contributing anything to the search. He finally looked over at her, finding her head down in her arms and sleeping quietly, her brown hair covering the only part of her face that was not buried in her arms.

Ashley had been right. There was not anything that they could find out about this plant tonight, not without confirmation from someone on Earth who had actually seen it. The search could wait until tomorrow.

Andros sighed softly, taking a glance around the bridge before letting his hand drift down to his locket and opening it. He slipped his finger under one of the pictures, pulling out a small silver disc. He looked around the bridge again then back at Ashley, who continued to sleep soundly, and he pressed a button on the console. A compartment opened and he placed the disc onto the small disc tray, looking up at the viewing screen as he pressed the button to retract the disc tray.

The viewing screen flashed once before showing the image of two children running through a park. Upon hearing the somewhat loud giggles of the young boy and girl on the screen, Andros reached over and reduced the volume. He leaned back in his chair and sighed as the little girl in gold stooped down in the grass with her brother and smiled as he expanded a small, colorful, spherical toy that floated between them telekinetically.

He frowned at the screen, forcing himself to continue to watch, especially knowing what was coming next. Andros swallowed hard as the ball floated away from the two children and the little boy ran off behind it, leaving the girl behind. A few moments later, a dark figure moved from behind the trees and the little girl screamed.

Andros held his breath as she called out her brother's name with a fear in her voice that sent a shiver down Andros' spine.

"Karone?" the little boy on screen called out, listening to the laughing creature that had taken his sister but finding no one. "Karone?"

"Andros, help me," Karone screamed, her voice already becoming faint.

Andros stared sadly at the screen, sitting up in his seat as he attempted to force open his throat, it having clamped shut upon watching his young self practically abandon his sister and allow her to be kidnapped.

"That's you and Karone, isn't it?" he heard suddenly, jumping at the voice a little.

He turned to Ashley, who sat staring at the screen with tears in her eyes.

Andros turned back to the screen and nodded. "Yes," he said softly.

"Why did they bother with surveillance in the park if they couldn't prevent this kind of stuff from happening?" Ashley asked, her voice breaking a bit.

When Andros didn't respond, she looked over at him. He was frowning again, but seemingly at his own thoughts.

"That's a good question," he said. "When I got my hands on this video, it never crossed my mind. But you make a good point. My guess is that they figured that anyone caught doing anything illegal would be native to the colony. It wasn't very often that anyone came to or left KO-35 for anything."

"No enemies that you knew of?"

"We covered all of those bases, Ashley," Andros said softly. "At that time, everyone who knew our family was a potential suspect. The list was endless. There just weren't enough clues."

"But that laughter," Ashley began, looking up at the screen.

"That monster that knew me," Andros said, clenching his fists. "That's why he said that we had met before. I just… had to be sure."

"What will you do now?" Ashley asked sadly.

"I find out what he wants from me," Andros replied as he reached over to turn off the frozen image of his former self, helplessly looking around for his little sister. "And I destroy him like I would any other monster."


	12. Chapter 12

Ch 12

"_Andros, come on," a small girl's voice whined._

_Andros felt his arm being tugged and he tugged back, recognizing the voice to be Karone's. His hand free, he placed it under his head and kept his eyes closed._

_"Come on," Karone whined again, this time pushing at Andros' chest in an attempt to turn him on his back._

_Andros briefly opened his eyes to peek at the hallucination, making absolutely certain that he was dreaming again, although fearing the consequences of acknowledging her at all._

_"I know you're awake," Karone said, just as Andros shut his eyes again._

_Andros sighed softly, squeezing his eyes shut even tighter as she attempted to open them with her fingers._

_"Please play with me, big brother," Karone pleaded._

_Andros said nothing and kept his eyes closed. He finally felt her move away from him but he knew that she was most likely still there._

_"Andros," a familiar woman's voice said softly._

_Andros' eyes fluttered open upon recognizing the voice, staring at the dark-haired young woman sitting beside him in a white t-shirt and not much else._

_"Yeah, it's me," she said with a smile._

_"No… it isn't," Andros replied, turning on his back and closing his eyes again. "I'm not falling for this again."_

_"Falling for what again?" she asked, gently stroking his forehead._

_"Stop it." He brushed her hand away from his face, trying not to look at her._

_"What are you going to do if I don't?" she asked playfully, leaning over him and planting her hands on either side of him. Just as his eyes opened again, she lightly kissed his neck._

_Andros' body immediately tensed and he pushed her away from him. "Don't do that," he said firmly._

_"You haven't changed at all," she replied with a smile. "This is still the only way that I can get you to talk to me."_

_"I'm not talking to a hallucination."_

_"I'm not a hallucination," she argued, pouting a little._

_"You're right," Andros said. "I'd have to be conscious to call you a hallucination… Either way, you're not really here."_

"_I love you," she said softly. "But you already knew that didn't you?"_

_Andros didn't reply, choosing to stare at his bedroom ceiling instead._

_"Don't you love me at all?" she asked, looking at him hopefully._

_"No," Andros stated as plainly and firmly as he could. "Leave me alone."_

_It was suddenly silent and Andros wondered if the dream had finally ended, or at least that this imposter of his friend was gone. He looked over to where she had sat to confirm her disappearance, but there she sat, large tears spilling down her cheeks. As soon as he caught her eye, her sobs were suddenly audible and she buried her face in her hands. Andros sighed deeply and looked back to the ceiling._

_"You really haven't changed at all," she sobbed. "All I've ever wanted my whole life was… you."_

_Andros glanced over at her, determined not to break his silence, but he couldn't help but feel guilty. The real Skye would never act so desperate, but she had always loved him and, even now, it remained unrequited._

_"If I can't be with you then… then I'll just go," she said._

_"Go where and do what?" Andros asked, angry with himself for allowing himself to be baited into talking with her._

"_I don't know what I'll do," she sobbed, finally standing and walking to the door._

_"Wait… Don't leave," Andros said, sitting up suddenly as he remembered what had happened when his last hallucination had left his side._

_Skye stopped and turned around, wiping away a tear. "What's the use? If you don't love me –"_

_"I _do _love you, Skye," he forced out as sincerely as he could. "I… I need you, Skye."_

_"You do?"_

_"I always have," he lied as he walked toward her and took her hand in his. "But I want to be able to devote myself to only you… And when this ranger stuff is through, I… I want to marry you."_

_"Do you really mean it?" Skye asked hopefully, as Andros embraced her._

_"Yes," Andros said. "It's all I've ever wanted for us."_

_Skye's eyes flooded with tears and she buried her face in his chest. "I love you so much," she managed to say as she squeezed him tightly._

_"I love you too," Andros said, returning the squeeze. "I love you too…"_

Andros opened his eyes, relieved to find himself sitting on his bedroom floor. He sat up and glanced around his room for any signs that he might have still been dreaming. Everything seemed to be in its place, including him. He only saw that his door was open and he stood up, walking to the doorway. He wondered how long he had been sleeping and what time it might be now. Andros turned to go back into his room.

"May say dee-tah," Andros heard echo softly in the corridor. He stopped and walked a little ways past a few doors. He leaned in close to the door he thought he had heard it from.

"May say dee-tah," he heard again, certain now from where the words came. He knocked lightly on the door, not sure that he really wanted to speak to the person on the other side. But the door slid open and he looked up from his feet to greet them.

"Hi," Ashley said, standing up from her bed.

"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" Andros asked uncomfortably.

"I couldn't really sleep," Ashley said. "I kept thinking about what you told me about your little sister's kidnapping."

Ashley watched as Andros looked back down at his feet and then at every wall of her room. "Is everything okay?" she asked.

"I think so," he answered distractedly. "It's just… very different than it was before."

"Oh," Ashley said, remembering how different the room had looked before she had covered the walls with various Angel Grove High posters and flags. She had always felt bad about the pictures she had removed of the other Astrorangers, but Zhane had reassured her and encouraged that she should make the room look as much like her own as possible. It would be the only thing to keep her from becoming too homesick.

"Do you… like it?" Ashley asked, hoping that she wouldn't wind up upsetting him again.

"I guess," he replied softly, unsure of just how much of a lie that was. He suddenly remembered his purpose as he looked her in the eye. "I wanted to ask you… about what you were saying, you know, before I came in."

"Oh… that," Ashley blushed, momentarily looking away from him. "I was just, um…repeating something that I thought I heard you say."

"So then, I _was_ sleepwalking again," Andros thought aloud.

"Your door opened, but I don't think that you walked any further than your doorway," Ashley said, taking a step toward him.

"Good," Andros said awkwardly. "I guess I should check DECA's cameras then."

"Oh, okay," Ashley said, wringing her hands. "That's probably a good idea."

Andros turned to the door, eager to end his sudden discomfort from being in the room. No, it was from being in the room with her. After all, he could see that his presence was causing her similar discomfort.

"What does it mean?" Ashley blurted out.

"What does what mean?" Andros asked, turning back to look at her.

"May say dee-tah," Ashley answered, trying to sound confident in her pronunciation.

"Mei cedi ta," Andros corrected. "It means… 'I'm in love with you.'"

"Oh."

"Yeah." Andros turned to leave again, willing and glad to leave the awkward words behind.

"Will you teach me?" Ashley blurted out again.

"Teach you what?" Andros asked, turning to her again.

"Karovan," Ashley answered.

Andros stared blankly at her for a moment, finally settling on a look of confusion and asking her, "Why?"

"It seems like a beautiful language," Ashley said with a faraway look.

"It is," Andros said. "But no one speaks Karovan anymore. Didn't you wonder why Zhane didn't know the language?"

"I figured that Zhane chose not to learn it," Ashley said.

Andros shook his head. "It's a dead language and it has been for many years. Teaching it to you would be a waste of time."

"Well, do you think that it would be too difficult for me to learn?" Ashley asked.

"No, but –"

"Do you think that you might not be able to teach me well enough?"

"No, that isn't the problem."

"Then, what _is_ the problem?"

"It's…I just…," Andros stammered, unsuccessfully able to find a problem other than not wanting to do it.

"Please teach me," Ashley said sweetly. "Please, please, please?"

"Fine," Andros agreed reluctantly with a sigh.

"Great," Ashley said excitedly. "When should we start? I know! How about after school?" she said before Andros had a chance to answer.

"Sure," Andros shrugged.

"On the Simudeck?"

"That might be best," Andros replied.

"Great," Ashley said again. "Then, I'll see you in the morning?"

Andros nodded, taking another quick glance around the room.

"Unless…you want to hang out for a while and talk…" Ashley suggested.

"No," Andros said quickly. "I mean, maybe some other time."

"That's okay," Ashley said."I need to study for my make-up quiz anyway."

"Make-up quiz?"

"I didn't do so well on my quiz yesterday, so my teacher is allowing me to make-up for that grade by taking a different, much harder quiz."

"Right," Andros blushed, glad that Earth schools didn't waste time teaching their students about makeup and embarrassed that he had thought so. "Right," he said again, turning around and walking to the doorway.

"Goodnight, Andros," Ashley said.

"Goodnight," he said, as the door slid shut behind him.

Ashley sat on her bed and sighed happily, smiling to herself. She had successfully taken the first step in possibly earning Andros' trust and creating an opportunity for the two to get to know one another better. Although, Ashley had to admit that taking on more studies wasn't very smart of her. But she couldn't think of any other way to pull more than a few words out of him at a time without him yelling at her. Maybe they would get a chance to talk in between her lessons and then she could explain to Andros why the idea of a quiz on makeup might not be such a bad idea.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Astronema sat on the edge of her bed and sighed, removing her locket from around her neck for the third time that day. She opened it and looked at the pictures inside, first at the young blonde girl and then at the young boy with blond-streaked brown hair.

She stared at the pictures for a minute and closed her eyes tightly. Images came to her mind as they often did when she studied the photos. There was always a big house with long hallways that she found herself lost in and a woman's voice that led her to the young boy. She always recognized him as her older brother, taking his hand and leading him outside. Then suddenly she would recognize herself as the little girl in the picture, playing with her brother in the park.

She remembered the forest of trees in the park, hiding behind them to escape her brother and erupting in giggles whenever he managed to find her. She remembered a woman's voice calling the two children inside for the day, but the little girl always stamped her foot and refused, asking her big brother to practice telekinesis a little while longer. Suddenly, Astronema would look around her and notice that she was alone before a large dark figure ran up to her and grabbed her, carrying her away as she screamed for her brother.

It had taken many years to piece together all of the images that haunted her dreams, but until recently, she had never been able to identify her captor. Astronema opened her eyes and closed the locket angrily. But Ecliptor had always known the identity of her captor and knowingly kept it from her, although she could not understand why. Over the past thirteen years, he had more than earned her trust, acting as the only father and confidant she had ever known.

She had never thought to ask about her past until the images began to make sense, but her last conversation with Ecliptor had opened her eyes about him. Not only was he willing to keep as much from her as he could, but he was also willing to lie to her.

Astronema suddenly jumped at the sight of two yellow eyes at her doorway, standing from her bed and grabbing her staff, dropping her locket to the floor as she pointed the staff at the shadowy figure.

"My apologies, Princess Astronema," Darkonda said. "It was not my intention to startle you."

"What are you doing here?" she asked irritably. "Shouldn't you be attacking the Power Rangers?"

"Of course," the monster said, turning to walk out the door. "If you think that's wise."

"What do you mean?" Astronema asked.

"Well… it's just that the last time I involved myself in an attack with Ecliptor, he betrayed me," Darkonda explained, turning back to face her. "He nearly destroyed me the last time we worked together and he has more than hinted at possibly doing it again. I merely came here to request that Ecliptor not be allowed to accompany me during my attacks on the rangers."

"That's funny," Astronema narrowed her eyes. "Ecliptor never mentioned _him_ betraying _you_."

"Of course he wouldn't… Not to his princess. He fears you too much to tell you the truth, but I've lost more than my share of lives thanks to Ecliptor… and I fear that he may eventually turn on you as quickly as he turned on me."

"How dare you even suggest –"

"Again, my apologies," Darkonda said. "It was not my place to say… But if Ecliptor _does_ attack me, I'll have no choice but to destroy him before he destroys me."

"Ecliptor will not touch you," Astronema replied. "I've told him that myself already. But if _your _plan fails to give me what I want from the rangers, I'll…"

"There's no need to finish that sentence," Darkonda replied. "And you need not worry, I will not disappoint you."

"You had better not," Astronema growled as Darkonda disappeared from the ship.

She stooped down and picked up her locket, turning it over in her hands. Once she was convinced that it was fine, she put her locket around her neck again.

Astronema sat back down on her bed, her mind racing. She hadn't ordered Ecliptor to attack the rangers with Darkonda. Ecliptor must have confronted him while tailing him, telling Darkonda that she had ordered him to fight alongside him. Or... was Darkonda really foolish enough to believe that he could turn her against Ecliptor?

No, he had tricked her. He had gotten her guarantee that he would not be harmed by Ecliptor and had probably gone to assure Dark Specter of that.

Astronema sighed softly. Maybe she should never have agreed to bring Darkonda in on this plan. But it was too late now.


	13. Chapter 13

Ch 13

"Good morning," Zhane said as Andros walked over to the Synthetron for his breakfast.

"Morning," Andros said, taking a seat beside him, happy to see the four empty chairs at the table.

"What are you doing up so early?" Zhane said, poking at his food with a spoon.

"I couldn't go back to sleep," Andros replied, hoping that the amount of food on his fork would be enough to muffle the details of the dream that he knew Zhane would eventually pull out of him.

"_Another_ dream?" Zhane asked, looking up at him just as Andros nodded. "Was it a nightmare?"

Andros shook his head, continuing to chew slowly. "Not really," he managed to say.

"Was it about Karone again?"

"Not exactly," Andros mumbled.

"Then what –" Zhane began, briefly reading his friend's guilty expression as he proceeded to chew. Everything suddenly made sense –the giant forkful of food, the guilty expression, and the roadblocks to his mind. A smile crept onto his face. "Oh… you dreamt about Skye?"

Andros continued to chew, looking down at the table and wishing that he weren't so transparent. But he finally nodded, swallowing his food.

Zhane leaned forward expectantly, quickly abandoning his food. "What happened? Did you two finally –"

"No," Andros quickly interrupted. "We just talked."

"If all that happened was talking, then why are you acting so nervous about it?" Zhane asked, leaning back in his seat again.

Andros sighed softly. "Don't read too much into this, but… she may have been wearing one of my shirts from back home."

"And?" Zhane asked, just barely interested anymore.

"That's all she was wearing," Andros said, looking away from Zhane again.

"Typical," Zhane sighed, folding his arms. "Only you would get sex dreams and not do anything with them."

"It wasn't a sex dream," Andros said, lifting his head again and rolling his eyes. "And I didn't do anything because I wanted to test out something… Not that I would have done anything to her at all, I mean I wouldn't even think about –"

"I know, I know," Zhane said with another sigh.

"Anyway, I had already tried not acknowledging her at all, but she wanted to make me chase after her. But I learned that if I stopped her from leaving my room, I won't leave my room either… at least not for long anyway."

Zhane shook his head. "It could only happen to you," he sighed, but then he smiled a little. "I can't help but wonder what would have happened if you _had_ decided to have sex with her… At that point, I think that you would have redefined the way that people sleepwalk."

"Will you focus?" Andros asked, rolling his eyes. "I may have just figured out a way to keep me from sleepwalking and attacking you guys."

"Right," Zhane nodded. He ate half of a spoonful of food and sighed. "But locking yourself in your room doesn't work and it's only a matter of time that you dream about someone that you're willing to chase."

"Maybe."

Zhane ate silently for a moment before smiling to himself. "So, how did you get Skye to stay in your room?"

Andros lowered his eyes again. "I… I told her that I was in love with her."

Zhane didn't say anything and Andros looked up at him. Zhane just stared at Andros in disbelief, finally shaking his head at him again.

"I can't believe you sometimes," Zhane said as calmly as he could. "You couldn't think of anything else to say? You _had_ to say you loved her?"

"It was the only way that she would stay," Andros shrugged. "But, it was only a dream, Zhane. There's no reason to take it personally."

"Right," Zhane sighed, pushing his plate away from him and standing from his seat.

"Don't tell me that you're mad at me again," Andros said, pushing his own plate away from him.

"Nope," Zhane answered although he thrust open the door of the Synthetron forcefully enough to bang it against the wall as he took out a cup of juice. He turned around sharply to face Andros as he headed back to the table. "But I've never liked the way you treated Skye… She's as good a friend to me as she is to you and I hate when you do things like that just to get your way."

"Things like what? It was _just_ _a_ _dream_, Zhane," Andros argued.

"Do you love Skye or not?" Zhane asked firmly.

Andros lowered his eyes and let out a breath. "I don't know… And I'm not sure how I _would_ know."

Zhane shook his head and sat down at the table. "If you don't know the answer to that then proposing to her may not have been very wise."

"What does it matter if I tell a hallucination that I love her?" Andros asked, lifting his head.

"It matters because you've said that to the real Skye more than once without meaning it," Zhane said, raising his voice. "It shouldn't be such a habit that you say it in your dreams too. Right now, Skye is somewhere waiting for you to love her back, like she's done for the past ten years."

"I can't force myself to love her," Andros said. "What do you want me to say?"

"I want you to stop telling her how much you love her until you really feel that way," Zhane yelled. He stopped talking when he caught four figures standing by the doorway to the workbay, fearfully watching the argument escalate. Zhane let out a deep breath and brought the cup of juice to his mouth.

"This might be a dumb question, but is everything okay with you two?" Cassie asked as she and the others made their way to the Synthetron.

"We're fine," Zhane answered, putting down his cup. "Just having a… friendly debate."

"Are you sure? Because –" Cassie replied.

"Just forget it, guys," Zhane interrupted, trying his best not to sound angry. "We'll discuss it some other time."

Everyone ate silently for a moment, glancing back and forth between the two best friends. At least, they had seemed to be friends at one point. In just two days, Andros had managed to fight with everyone on the Megaship at least once with little sign of stopping.

"How did your studying go?" Andros finally asked, turning to Ashley and breaking the silence.

Ashley looked up at him with a smile, surprised that he had spoken to her at all. And as she glanced around briefly at the others, she could see their surprise as well. "I think that I know enough to pass the quiz this time and I still have time to review before I take it… But we're still on for this afternoon, right?"

"Barring any unforeseen events or prolonged monster attacks," Andros confirmed.

"I can't wait," Ashley said excitedly.

"What's going on with you two?" Zhane asked, looking down into his cup.

"Andros is going to teach me how to speak Karovan," Ashley replied.

Zhane glanced up at Ashley quizzically. "Why?"

"I asked her the same thing," Andros said, forgetting that Zhane was angry with him for a moment.

"Why not?" Ashley asked. "What's the big deal about learning Karovan?"

"No one speaks Karovan anymore, Ashley," Zhane replied. "If you were to learn it, then a total of… maybe eight people would know the language fluently, most of them in Andros' family."

"I'd still like to learn it," Ashley said and Zhane shrugged. "So what are you two going to do all day?"

"I'd like to focus the search on Zordon until you guys get more information about that plant," Zhane answered. "But DECA and I can do that on our own." He glanced over at Andros a moment before finishing off his juice.

"It was _just__a__dream,_ Zhane," Andros said as Zhane stood up and left the room.

"I'll see you guys when you get back," Zhane called out before he disappeared down the corridor.

"Fine," Andros said after another awkward pause. "I guess I'll have to find something else to do today."

"Why don't you come to school with us?" Ashley suggested, ignoring the stares from the others. "You can sit in on our classes and see what it's like to get an authentic Earth education."

Andros glanced around at the other rangers, who couldn't hide their nervousness at the thought of him going to school with them. "Maybe I'd better not," he finally said, unable to ignore the growing cacophony of protests running through his mind from the others. "I don't want to cause you guys anymore trouble."

"It's just one day, Andros," Ashley pleaded. "It might be fun for you."

_Ashley,__shut__up_, Carlos thought, hoping that she might hear him. _It__'__s__bad__enough__what__happened__with__Bulk__and__Skull__yesterday.__School__is__the__last__place__that__Andros__should__be_.

"Carlos is right," Andros said. "This probably isn't a good idea."

Carlos glared at Andros and let out a breath. "I didn't say anything," he said.

"It was an accident," Ashley said just as Andros did and the two glanced at one another.

"Was that an accident too?" Carlos asked. "Or can you control minds as well as read them?"

"I can't always turn the telepathy off," Andros sighed. "And when I can't, it's hard to distinguish between what I actually hear and what I hear in my head."

"Well, you can't do that at school," Carlos said pointedly. "And you can't do anything else like telekinesis or whatever either."

"I wouldn't do that," Andros said.

"Why do you _really_ want to come with us?" Cassie asked.

"I thought that I was invited," Andros replied. "Besides, I don't have anything else to do today."

"That's not what I asked," Cassie sighed. "If you come with us out of boredom, then it's more likely that you'll do something to… "

"You'll get yourself in trouble," T.J. finished.

"Well, what if I take full responsibility for anything that might happen," Ashley suggested, wondering why she was suddenly begging the others to bring Andros with them.

Carlos turned to Andros. "What we need to know right now is that we can trust you enough to bring you with us."

Andros nodded, although he wondered why the decision had suddenly become up to Carlos. Ashley had invited him after all, but now he seemed to be begging for permission to go. And now, he wasn't sure that a whole day in a Terran school was worth it anymore.

"What do I have to do?" he asked.

"You have to tell us who you were talking to on the bridge the other night."

Andros sighed heavily and looked down at his hands, which lay clenched in his lap. He had figured that it would come up again soon. He glanced up at the rangers, who all awaited his answer.

"An old friend of mine had been captured and brought to Omni-8, but… he didn't make it back," Andros explained softly as he turned his gaze back to his hands. "I contacted his father on Demeth and explained to him why his son would not be returning."

"Oh," Carlos said, sounding almost relieved and looking down guiltily. "I'm sorry that I made it seem…"

"It's okay," Andros said, too exhausted to feign anger toward him. "But I want to make something absolutely clear." He lifted his head and waited until he was sure that they were all focused on him before he continued. "There are going to be a lot of things about Omni-8 that I'm not going to want to talk about just yet, if ever. And I need you all to respect that for a while."

"You don't have to tell us that," T.J. said. "We already knew that you might feel that way and we understand, but… what you do on this ship, outside of your room, should be considered fair game for discussion."

"Noted," Andros said, nodding in agreement.

"Now can we go to school?" Ashley asked. "I really don't want to be late today."

"I'll bet you never thought you'd ever say that sentence out loud," Cassie joked.

"Let's go," Carlos said.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Zhane, you should not eavesdrop," DECA scolded, as Zhane released a button that closed off communication between the bridge and the workbay.

"It isn't eavesdropping," Zhane countered. "Andros would have said what he did whether or not I had been in the room, so I was only listening to what I missed." Of course, he wasn't certain that was entirely true since Andros hadn't mentioned an "old friend" from Demeth before. Not even after spending the whole day with Andros had he brought up this old friend.

The only friends that Zhane could think of from Demeth were Sadi and Midi, but Sadi wasn't really a friend and Andros would have told him if anything bad had happened to Midi. He was sure of that. He was almost sure, anyway.

"DECA, connect me with Sadi of Demeth," Zhane ordered, turning to the viewing screen.

"Approximate location of Sadi of Demeth is currently unknown," DECA answered.

"DECA, you know how to contact Sadi. I've communicated with her many times in the past," Zhane said, glancing up at the small camera.

"There are no records of any communication attempts to Demeth. Please enter approximate coordinates."

"DECA, who did Andros speak with on the bridge two nights ago?" Zhane asked in frustration.

"Andros remained on the Simudeck for the entirety of the night," DECA informed.

"No, after that."

"Andros retreated to his bedroom at 4 a.m."

"Are you trying to tell me that Andros stayed on the Simudeck until 4 a.m.?"

"That is incorrect."

"Then, correct me," Zhane said through gritted teeth.

"Andros left the Simudeck that morning at 0034 hours. He then retreated to his bedroom at 0400 hours."

"What was he doing between those hours?"

"Activity is unknown."

Zhane stood up and sighed. "DECA, you see and hear everything that happens on this ship all day, everyday. How is it that you were able to miss almost four hours of activity?"

"Magic word mode: 'Privacy' has been activated."

"I thought so," Zhane sighed. Andros had gone to extraordinary lengths to block out something that must have been pretty significant to him. But if Andros had already told the others about this friend of his, why would he need to hide it?

Zhane walked over to put in the coordinates himself, straining to remember the correct order of the sequence.

"Zhane?" he heard from the viewing screen before looking up.

"Hello, Sadi," he greeted a pair of surprised dark almond-shaped eyes belonging to the smiling green-haired woman on the screen before him.

"Zhane, it's been awhile," she said, pulling her long hair into a ponytail to get it out of her face.

"Two years, at least," Zhane said, finding himself unable to return the smile.

Sadi folded her arms with a sigh. "And after all that time spent avoiding me, you… what? You suddenly missed me or something?"

"I need to ask you something," Zhane replied. "I know that any communications on Demeth go through you first… And I know that –"

"That Andros communicated with someone here?" Sadi finished teasingly, leaning toward the screen with a smirk. "That's confidential information. You really think that I'd tell you?"

"Nothing is confidential with you, Sadi."

"I'm sorry, Zhane. But I can't give you any information on Andros or his contact on Demeth… unless…"

Zhane sighed and folded his arms. "What?"

"Well, I'm sure that you must still contact the A.D.A. Galactic Force from time to time, right?"

"So? Most rangers do."

"I don't… but I'm also not a ranger anymore as I'm sure you know."

"I can't do anything about that," Zhane replied, glancing away from her.

"Is that all you have to say after you cost me my morpher?" Sadi asked, standing from her seat and walking toward the screen.

"I didn't –"

"Didn't you? Andros did the most damage, of course. But you… you just stood there and let it happen."

"I already told you that I wouldn't apologize for that. The guy deserved what he got."

"And me? Did I deserve to be stripped of my morpher and my place in society? My own daughter won't even talk to me unless I have news about the Power Rangers."

"Like I said, I can't do anything about that."

"You can tell the A.D.A. Galactic Force and the Stranger planets the truth about what happened."

"No way," Zhane answered, raising his voice. "That won't help anyone, least of all Andros. You know that his record with them –"

"I really don't care what happens to him… or you, for that matter," Sadi interrupted. "Everyone knows what Andros did that day and he _still_ has his morpher!"

"The information you have on Andros' contact is hardly worth destroying our lives over."

"Oh, don't be so melodramatic, Zhane. And information that could help you crack the code of a certain prophecy that you two have spent your lives trying to prevent is more than worth it."

Sadi smiled at Zhane's abrupt silence. She knew that he might reconsider if it meant figuring out that prophecy.

"But maybe you're right," she said with a smile. "Maybe you don't need to know about the one thing that might mean the end of the universe as we know it as long as you two can keep your morphers."

"If I do this, I'm betraying my best friend," Zhane said. "I…I can't. Not for information that he could tell me himself."

"As usual, time is of the essence," Sadi replied. "Especially since every evil villain will know of its existence soon. Besides what are the odds that Andros will tell you about this before then?"

Zhane looked down at his hands that were dropped so helplessly in his lap. "After this… we're even, right?"

Sadi smiled again. "Of course, Zhane. You and I will be even."


	14. Chapter 14

Ch 14

_Pain._

_That was all that Andros could think about as he opened his eyes to the soft lighting of a ship. He struggled to keep them open as his body lay on the cold floor, dampened all over with sweat and heavy from the fight that he just barely recalled. He quickly tried to remember where he was as he fought against common sense to stay low until he had a chance to see what he was up against. But he slowly got to his feet, looking all around him. _

_The cold, steel interior of the ship was divided by bars, cages for prisoners, in which he was currently locked, he realized. Andros ignored the lightheadedness that fought to return him to the floor and continued to look around. This had to be Dark Specter's ship, he concluded as a trail of smeared blood leading from his cell caught his eye. He quickly looked down at himself, but he was still morphed. Now he could focus his fear on who the blood had belonged to and where they were now._

_In an attempt to keep his mind focused instead of reeling in panic, Andros looked to the other cells across from his, hoping that the other Astrorangers were there. Someone was lying facedown in one of the cells, but he could not make out which ranger it might have been. But his eyes rested on the platinum blonde figure next to the ranger._

"_Lyell…" Andros whispered to himself as her lifeless body lay crumpled against the bars of the cell. But he determined that he did not have time to grieve for her now and he looked to the other cells. There were still three rangers unaccounted for._

_Just then, the floors and walls shook as a loud thud echoed within the ship, followed by a single scream. Andros gripped the bars that held him back from heading in the voice's direction as he heard a wet thud and footsteps coming toward him. He hugged his body to the nearest wall that cast a shadow and waited silently as he heard the approaching buzzes of quantrons._

_Andros watched from the shadows as a body was dragged piece by piece into the cell next to his and was unnecessarily stacked neatly in the corner of the cell. He turned his head as the last quantron brought in the last of five large pieces of the body. But a sob still managed to escape from him as the thick smell of damp flesh and blood overpowered his senses and the quantrons turned to look into his cell. But seeing nothing except shadows or possibly not feeling threatened by the Red Ranger, the quantrons did nothing and left, their robotic voices fading as they walked away from him._

"_Fuso," Andros said softly, lowering his head in shame that he no longer had the stomach to look at the remains of his friend. "You won't die in vain… none of you will."_

"_Andros?" he heard Zhane whisper to him weakly. "You're… okay?"_

"_Zhane," Andros breathed as he frantically looked around for him. "Where are you?"_

"_With my sister," Zhane replied, as Andros looked across him to where Lyell's body had been and where the now conscious Silver Ranger sat stroking her hair. "We're all going to die here, aren't we?"_

"_Keep it together, Zhane," Andros said firmly. "We have to get out of here."_

_Another loud scream echoed through the ship and the Silver Ranger cradled his sister in his arms even tighter. Andros quickly checked his holsters for his blasters, which he assumed were gone. They were and he twisted at the bars in front of him, hoping to catch a break somehow. But the bars did not move and Andros ran his fist into them in frustration._

"_Zhane, I need your help," Andros said. "You have to put Lyell down and think. Throw some ideas at me, please."_

"_We have to get the key to the cells from the quantrons," Zhane answered distantly. "Or we wait until they open the doors and fight our way out."_

"_Do you think you can handle that right now?" Andros asked. _

"_As long as you don't expect me to leave my sister here," he replied._

"_I promise we'll get her out of here." But Andros really did not feel as though he were in a position to promise anything. He could not even guarantee that he would get himself out alive, but Zhane was just barely holding on and needed to hear something positive now. Telling him that they might die in a few minutes was not quite the booster that Zhane would benefit from._

"_Have you seen any of the others?"_

"_That was Jishai screaming a minute ago," Zhane said softly. "But I haven't seen Aeden since –" He stopped as his voice broke and looked down at his sister, shaking his head. "We should have just –"_

"_Zhane!" Andros shouted, forgetting their current situation for a moment. "There's no time to think about what we should have done. We have to get out of here right now."_

_The sound of quantrons filled the ship again, followed by the sound of footsteps quickly making their way to the cells. Within seconds, a figure stopped in front of the cell, gripping the bars as he struggled to catch his breath._

"_Aeden?" Andros asked, running to the bars._

"_Hey, guys," Aeden said, gasping for air, looking over to Zhane. "Been… looking for ya… Glad you're okay… The others… are not."_

"_We know," Andros said, studying him carefully. "Where's your morpher?"_

"_Dark Specter… no time… being chased," he replied, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a key. Aeden fumbled with the lock until the cell opened and Andros stepped out._

"_We're bringing Lyell with us," Andros said while Aeden opened Zhane's cell lock._

"_Fine," Aeden said, putting Lyell on his shoulder. "But we have to go _right_ now."_

"_Where?" Zhane asked. "How do we get out?"_

"_Um… back the way I came," he replied. "That's the only way out that I saw."_

"_Didn't you say something about being chased?" Andros asked._

"_By about fifty quantrons, give or take," Aeden said with a nod. "Think we can take em?"_

_Andros looked to him with a sigh and finally looked up ahead to the hallway that steadily filled with the shadows of quantrons._

"_Let's find out," he said._

"Andros?"

Andros raised his head at the sound of Ashley's voice and the incessant ringing of a bell. He looked around him, having forgotten where he was. He just barely remembered walking into a classroom, sitting down at the uncomfortably small desk in which he currently squirmed.

But he was not surprised that he finally tuned out the droning voice of the morning announcements and slipped silently into a world of his own. It was a world that he hated, of course, and one that he had relived many times since it had happened, but anything seemed better than listening to the unenthused buzzing of the school's secretary as she read the lunch menu. Finally he turned to Ashley, hoping to shake away the past for the next six hours.

"Andros, Mr. Young was just asking if you would introduce yourself to the class," Ashley said.

"Oh, okay," he said in a daze as Mr. Young motioned for him to come to the front of the room. He walked silently past three rows of students, finally reaching the front of the room. Andros stood before the seated students, many of whom did not seem interested in him or anything that he might have to say.

"I'm not really sure what to say," Andros said quietly, already beginning to take interest in his own shoes.

"Tell us your name, where you're from," Mr. Young suggested with a smile. "You can't go wrong with the basics."

"Okay," Andros sighed, looking back up at the students. "My name is Andros and I'm in my nineteenth year –"

"Of high school?" a boy in the front row inquired and several people in class erupted into giggles.

"First warning before second period?" Mr. Young asked him. "Are we setting a record today for fastest detention, Sam?"

Sam rolled his eyes as Mr. Young nodded to Andros.

"I'm… nineteen years old," Andros began again, having forgotten proper Earth phrasing for a moment. "And I'm from K –"

"Kayoria!" Ashley interjected loudly, nearly jumping out of her seat and every head turned to her.

"Ashley, I don't think that Andros needs any help telling us where he's from," Mr. Young said.

"Sorry," she replied softly.

"But I must admit that I've never heard of Kayoria," Mr. Young said, walking behind Andros and pulling down a map of the world over the blackboard. "Where is it exactly?"

"You won't find it," Sam said with a smirk. "There's no such place."

Andros turned to the map, silently cursing these unnecessary lies, as he quickly skimmed the colorful countries before him. Finally, he turned back to the class, nothing plausible enough coming to mind. His mind was a complete blank as he looked to the other rangers, who seemed to be just as lost.

"Just point to Loserville and sit down," Sam called out, the classroom filling with the snickering of his friends.

Ashley watched nervously as Andros closed his eyes and let out a breath, bringing a hand up to his head. No, not just his head, she noticed. His fingers ran along the edge of the scar –the scar that he had gotten on Omni-8, the very same scar that he had not mentioned to any of them so far.

_Please, please, please_, Ashley thought, hoping that he was reading her mind. _Please control your temper._

But Andros simply opened his eyes again, his eyes glazed over as they had briefly been on the Simudeck two nights ago and allowing his hand to leave the scar before reaching behind him to grab the pointer by the map.

"Actually," he began, twisting the pointer in his fists. "It _is_ very unlikely that anyone would have ever heard of Kayoria… seeing as how it doesn't exist."

_Oh no_, Ashley thought, dropping her head into her hands.

"Kayoria exists wherever its people do," Andros continued. "Kayorians are a wandering group of people, not certain of their home but very certain of their beliefs. I call myself a Kayorian out of respect for my people, but it isn't a country."

He paused a minute, glad to see that they were buying it so far. "I suppose that I can't call any one country my home," he continued. "Unfortunately, there are very few countries that will accept our people. Even now, there is fighting between our people and other pl – _countries_ because of just that."

"What do you mean 'fighting'?" Sam asked. "Like war or something?"

"Yeah," he answered. "But there aren't that many of us, so we were driven out of the one place that we were finally happy with settling down in."

"Where?" a girl behind Sam asked, leaning forward in her seat, unable to hide her interest.

"Just a small stretch of land," Andros said, glad to find a tiny loophole in this lying thing. _Any_ bit of truth felt good right now. "Land that didn't belong to _any_ country, just us… But when a bigger colony of people decided to take it from us, we didn't have enough people able to fight for it."

"Without weapons, can you really call it a war?" Sam inquired with a scoff. "I mean, what did you do? Did you push each other back and forth over the property line or did you actually kill anyone?" Sam asked sarcastically, leaning back in his seat.

Andros' eyes glazed over again, this time glistening with tears. The screams of his opponents on Omni-8 immediately came to mind, followed by those of the previous Astrorangers, the memory fresh in his mind from a few moments earlier. If only he had taken charge of his team _before_ the attack, they might still be –

"You don't have to answer that, Andros," Mr. Young said as he watched the pointer snap into two pieces in Andros' shaking hands.

"No," Andros said, his tears suddenly gone as he gripped the wooden pointer halves tightly as he suddenly glared at Sam. "Maybe I _should_ answer him… or maybe I should –"

"Andros," Ashley exclaimed, cutting him off, but not breaking the threatening gaze that he continued to give Sam. "Maybe you should let Mr. Young have his class back now."

Andros nodded, acknowledging her voice but not able to look at her as he and Sam continued staring daggers at one another for a moment longer before Andros made his way to his seat. He could feel the eyes of the other rangers on him, but Andros ignored them as much as he could, their thoughts flooding his mind all at once. As he had expected, they were all thoughts of fear –not of him, but fear that he might blow their big secret.

Andros shook his head, trying to replace their thoughts with Mr. Young's hour-long lecture about symbolism and alliteration in the eight poems that he read aloud. But even those thoughts were interrupted suddenly by a very persistent whisper on his right.

"Andros," Ashley whispered.

He ignored her, focusing instead on how a poem about pudding could possibly be a metaphor for how great life can be.

"_Andros_," she whispered louder, looking up to find Mr. Young and most of the class staring at her.

"Is everything okay, Ashley?" Mr. Young asked.

"I was just trying to tell Andros that he should go to the nurse," she answered.

Andros looked down at himself, his eyes centering in on the dried blood on his hand and the thin stream of it running down his fingers.

Mr. Young nodded, waiting until Ashley and Andros were out the door before resuming his lecture.

"Where's it coming from?" Ashley asked, hurrying down the hallway with Andros, who insisted on taking his time. Finally, she slowed down until he caught up with her.

"I think it stopped," Andros said softly. "I must have bandaged it too tightly this morning."

"Bandaged what?" she asked, trying to recall if Andros had been hurt fighting Darkonda.

"Nothing," he said, though he pushed up his sleeve as he turned suddenly into the boys' restroom.

Without a second thought, Ashley pushed open the door of the restroom and stepped inside in time to see Andros over the sink, removing a wet bandage from his wrist.

"Well, that explains the long sleeves," Ashley said with a sigh, walking up to him and wetting a few paper towels.

"I thought that you weren't allowed in here," Andros said, gently taking the paper towels from her and wiping the blood from his hand and wrist.

"You're bleeding and you're worried about the sign on the door?"

Andros did not answer, wetting another paper towel to bring to his wrist. But Ashley pulled his hand to her, seeing the three short, deep cuts on his arm.

"Did you do this?" she asked, not able to take her eyes from the wounds.

Again, he did not answer, wondering why people like her and Zhane asked questions to which they already knew the answers.

"So Carlos was right," Ashley said. "Death _does_ stay on your mind a lot, doesn't it?"

"Why wouldn't it?" he finally said, pressing the drying paper towel against his wrist. "I'm constantly surrounded by it."

"No, you're not," Ashley said. "At least, you haven't been for the time that you've been back."

"Yeah, for the two days that I've been here no one has died – the curse is broken," he said sarcastically, rolling his eyes and breezing past her and out of the restroom.

The empty hallway seemed endless as they walked in silence, the two of them unable to avoid glancing at one another. Finally, Andros broke the silence.

"What is it?" he asked.

Ashley waited until his eyes met hers before speaking. "Why did you do it?" she asked.

"I was waiting for that," he said with a sigh. But he did not answer her.

"So, you aren't going to tell me?" Ashley asked.

"I'm not even sure that _I_ know," he replied. "I guess that I just wasn't thinking very clearly."

"Am I going to have to follow you around to make sure that you don't do anything like that again?"

Andros eyed her warily. "Please don't," he said.

"I was kidding," she said with a shrug.

"No, you weren't," Andros replied, shaking his head. "But I have no plans to kill myself in the near future. I'm thinking clearly now and I know where I need to be."

"Here with us, I hope," Ashley said with a small smile that was met with silence.

"For a while, anyway," he determined aloud.

The silence between them resumed for a while longer, the two of them reaching the nurse's office within moments. Andros walked in alone, motioning for Ashley to stay outside the door.

It was not until then that Ashley realized that she had followed _him_ there. The mind reading would take some getting used to, she decided as she stood impatiently outside of the office. _He_ would take some getting used to as well with his secrets.

She still was not sure what had happened back in Mr. Young's class between Andros and Sam. And she was fairly certain that Andros would say little or nothing about it until she and the other rangers shoved words like 'trust' and 'responsibility' down his throat. And even then, he might feel cornered enough to lie to them.

"Lie about what?" Andros asked, closing the door behind him and folding a green pamphlet in half.

Ashley shook her head, waving away his question. "What's that?" she asked instead, flicking the folded pamphlet in his hand.

Andros looked down at the pamphlet and stuffed it in his pants pocket. "Um, the nurse wouldn't let me leave without promising to read something about cutting, so I took one."

"She didn't buy your excuse of not thinking clearly?" Ashley asked.

"No more than you or Zhane," he admitted, starting down the hallway again, a hand on his shoulder stopping him.

"Andros," Ashley said in a voice that was already a little too familiar to him. Maybe not so much familiar as annoying, but likely to be followed by her feelings about something that he did or needed to do. "You wouldn't… I mean –of course, you wouldn't –but you really wouldn't hurt Sam, right?"

Andros closed his eyes and let out a breath as he briefly recalled the incident. If he told Ashley or the rangers that Sam's thoughts were not those of a teenage boy but those of the plotting monster that had kidnapped his sister, they might panic. Besides, there was not much that any of them could do about it as long as their classmates were around except watch him and see what his plan was.

"I don't know," he said, sure that his answer would not help Ashley to trust him. But when he met her eyes, she did not seem too concerned with his response.

"I know that he was being rude, but you looked like you were going to hit him."

"Maybe I was," he said impatiently, turning from her.

"I don't believe that," she said, shaking her head. "And getting mad at me won't make this go away."

He was becoming predictable to her already –not good. But the ground shook violently and Andros quickly abandoned his thoughts. He turned to Ashley, barely seeing her as he felt himself being pulled around a corner and away from the thousands of evacuating students.

"Come on," she was saying over the growing panicked students that suddenly flooded the hallways. "We have to get out of here."

They turned another corner and Ashley pulled him into a room where Carlos, T.J., and Cassie were waiting for them. An explosion sounded followed by the loud, evil laughter that they had become acquainted with and the rangers exchanged glances.

It was _him_ again.

"Let's rocket!" Andros shouted.


	15. Chapter 15

Ch 15

By the time the Astrorangers arrived on the scene, Darkonda was already attempting to gather up a large group of students, his laugh echoing in the air. The rangers ran toward him, taking out their lasers and aiming at him. And just like his last attack, he made sure that the few students that he had rounded up into a corner were right behind him –knowing that the rangers would never fire their weapons as long as a human was close by.

"Ah rangers, there you are," he greeted them, laughing again as a group of quantrons suddenly appeared and began to swarm around the rangers. "Please don't let them stop you from joining me."

With their lasers wielded, the quantrons seemed much easier to defeat than usual. But Andros knew better. It was more than obvious to him that these quantrons were not as tough as the ones he had faced several times before. These quantrons fought lazily, without weapons or effort, and were easily knocked to the ground.

This was another trap, though less obvious than the last time. And they were falling right into it as they had before.

As Andros effortlessly knocked down three quantrons with a single kick, he caught something zip past him, the whirlwind of which nearly knocked him off his feet. But the boisterous laughter that immediately followed confirmed that it was _him_… the one that had taken his sister from him so many years ago and the one who would pay for it –one way or another.

Ashley flipped over a quantrons in time to see the Red Ranger speeding behind the monster toward the field behind the school. "Wait!" she called after Andros to no avail.

Andros continued to run after the blur that was his new bane. He was surprised that he was able to keep up with him on his feet and he quickly concluded that this monster _wanted_ to be followed.

Andros called for his Spiral Saber as he got closer to him, wishing that he had thought to call for his galaxy glider instead. His legs had already begun to burn and weaken, but he refused to slow down. He couldn't lose him. Not yet. But he had started to unintentionally slow down now and Darkonda quickly left his line of sight.

Too late for a galaxy glider now. Even if he could keep up, it would be impossible to figure out in which direction it had gone. But as soon as Andros stopped running and looked around him, Darkonda's laugh surrounded him on all sides.

"Where are you?" Andros muttered, wondering how he could have fallen for the old 'separate the leader from the pack' trap.

No, not leader. Andros hadn't agreed to that yet. But, of course, this monster didn't know that.

A large group of quantrons appeared and swarmed around the Red Ranger, most with weapons and definitely better fighters than the quantrons he had just faced. Andros fought them off fiercely, but quickly began to lose some of the adrenaline that had helped him keep up with Darkonda earlier. His Spiral Saber was the first to go and he growled, recognizing this scenario from two years earlier.

"I won't make the same mistakes again," he thought aloud. "Not again."

He grabbed for his laser, but it too was gone and in the hands of a quantron… just like before.

Andros stopped fighting and stood in the center of the quantrons, slowly dropping his arms to his sides and closing his eyes. The quantrons stared at him, unsure of what the motionless Red Ranger was up to. And the longer he remained still, the more they didn't want to wait to find out and they slowly raised their weapons at him.

With his eyes closed, Andros could hear and feel everything around him, the energies that merged together to make up his surroundings suddenly distinguishable in his mind. Without opening his eyes, he felt them come at him and he felt his own energy beginning to swell, rushing from him with a force that shook the ground under him. Immediately, he heard the clattering of the quantrons as they all hit the ground at once.

But it was not long before they were back on their feet and he could feel them move toward him again. Andros' mind was a blur as his fists and feet seemed to move autonomously with a series of moves that he had not even been sure that he could do anymore. He waited until he could feel them all lying at his feet again, waiting until their energy disappeared before opening his eyes and catching sight of the other rangers standing off to the side.

"What?" he asked, as they continued to stare at him oddly.

"Nothing," the Blue Ranger answered. "It escaped?"

Andros shook his head. "I can still feel him. He's here somewhere."

Almost immediately, laser shots were fired from behind them and Darkonda fell from the sky. A plant pod covered with pink leaves fell to the ground shortly thereafter.

The Silver Ranger ran over to join the others. "Just in time," he said, scooping up the pod and pointing the blade of his Silver Silverizer at Darkonda's head with his foot on the monster's back.

The rangers gathered around Darkonda, who still managed to laugh with a weapon less than an inch from his head.

"What's your game?" Zhane asked Darkonda. "What are you after?"

Darkonda continued to laugh. "Why don't you ask the Red Ranger?"

Andros took a step forward. "I don't know you," he lied, wishing that he had control of Zhane's weapon for just a second.

"I am called Darkonda," the monster replied. "And it hurts my feelings that you don't remember me. I'm sure that if you think about it hard enough, you'd probably remember me from lots of places."

"What do these plants do?" Zhane asked, more and more concerned with his own wellbeing as the current holder of the plant.

"This plant holds a special surprise for the Red Ranger," Darkonda answered, nudging Zhane's foot from his back just long enough to disappear from under it. "But I'm sure that you'll all get some enjoyment out of it."

"It's okay," Cassie said to know one in particular. "Now that we have the plant, DECA can tell us what it does."

"Before we head back to the ship," Zhane began, demorphing and turning to Andros. "You need to demorph… immediately."

"Are you still mad about this morning?" Andros asked in frustration. "It was just a dream, Zhane!"

"It isn't that," Zhane answered, lowering his eyes. "It's Sadi… and she's on the ship."

Andros walked up to Zhane, his eyes fixed on his friend's guilty expression. "Why is she on my ship?"

"Why didn't you tell the truth about who you contacted the other night?" Zhane asked accusingly.

"_Why_ is she on my ship?" Andros asked again, clenching his fists.

"You may have found the weapon mentioned in the prophecy and you –" Zhane started.

"You let Sadi onto the ship," Andros said angrily, giving Zhane a shove, somewhat shocked that Zhane had allowed it to happen and that he had not been pushed back. But as he quickly scanned Zhane's thoughts, he suddenly knew why.

"What did you do?" Andros asked as calmly as he could. "What did you do?"

"I… " Zhane trailed off, not sure of how many euphemisms there were for betrayal but wishing that one would come to mind. "I made a mistake," he said with a sigh. "A really big one…"

-0-0-0-0-0-

Andros walked off the Megalift, his entire body tense as he walked toward the bridge, the other rangers on his heels as he cautiously took a step onto the bridge and looked around.

"You looking for me, cutie?" a voice asked, followed by the snap of fingers.

Immediately, two large muscular guards forcefully grabbed Andros by the arms as a smiling woman stepped forward, tossing her long green ponytail behind her.

"Thought you'd never get here," she said with a sparkle in her eyes that brought a scowl to Andros' face as he attempted to fight against the guards' hold on him. "A.D.A. Galactic Force guards get paid by the hour, you know."

"Why are you here?" Andros asked angrily.

"Zhane," Sadi said suddenly, ignoring Andros for the moment. "Good to see you face-to-face again. It's been years, I think." She walked up to him and went to stroke his cheek, stopped by Zhane's reflex to catch her hand before it reached him.

"So tense," Sadi said with a smile, squeezing her hand out of his tight grasp. "You should really relax, Zhane. What do you think I'll do, bite you?"

Zhane remained silent, taking a step backward as he usually did when he was angry enough to hit something… or someone.

Sadi finally looked past Zhane to the other rangers, who had been as still as statues until now. "Please don't tell me that these are the new Astrorangers," she said, nodding toward them.

"Who else would we be?" Carlos asked.

"Earth rangers," Sadi said. "Rangers not worthy of the Astromorphers."

"But _you_ are?" Andros asked.

"You're taking this much better than I expected," Sadi said, ignoring another of his questions as Andros relentlessly struggled to free his arms from the guards. "But this is no one's fault except your own… and maybe Zhane's," she added, ignoring Zhane's angry stare. "But you're right. None of us were the top choices for this line of work."

"You say things like that and the A.D.A. Galactic Force is on _your_ side?" Zhane asked.

"And only my side," Sadi said smiling. "I get the ship, the Red Astromorpher and my Astromorpher."

"You can't do that," Zhane nearly shouted.

"Of course I can. It's mine and I want it back." She held out her open hand to Ashley.

"_I_ have your morpher?" Ashley asked nervously.

Carlos walked over to stand between Ashley and Sadi. "Why can't you just use the Red Ranger's Astromorpher?"

"Thanks, Carlos," Andros said sarcastically.

"She can't use the Red Astromorpher… No one can use it except Andros," Zhane said.

"Then, why do you want it?" Cassie asked, turning to Sadi. "If you can't use it –"

"I don't intend to use the Red morpher," Sadi retorted. "But I have orders from the A.D.A. Galactic Force saying that I can suspend Andros from using his morpher for as long as I want… I considered forever, but I was given limitations to the length of time I can suspend him."

"How long?" T.J. asked.

"Two years –the length of time that my morpher was taken from me."

"What about Ashley? You can't just take her morpher." Carlos argued.

"If Andros and Zhane hadn't pulled their little stunt, Ashley would never have been in a position to get my morpher in the first place." Sadi turned back to Ashley. "Don't make this hard on yourself."

Ashley lowered her eyes and removed the morpher from her arm, handing it to Sadi as gently as she could. How could Zordon let a person as evil as Sadi become a Power Ranger? Within five minutes, she had made enemies with everyone on the ship –much quicker than Andros.

"Is there anything that I can do?" Andros asked, no longer struggling against the guards. "Not for my morpher, but… for Ashley's. There has to be something."

Sadi smiled slyly. "Sorry, but there's nothing that you can _do_ except… Well, I suppose you could distract Zhane while I take his morpher too."

"You can't take _my_ morpher!" Zhane exclaimed angrily.

"The A.D.A. Galactic Force considers you to be an accomplice and I was placed in charge of your punishment as well. So hand it over."

Zhane looked to the A.D.A.G.F. guards, who nodded in response. With a sigh, Zhane reached into his pocket and took out his morpher, staring at it a minute before tossing it to Sadi who caught it and put it in her jacket pocket.

"I'm not sure when I'll be ready to give you this back," Sadi said. "Although you'll probably get yours before Andros will since you didn't ruin my life quite as much as he did. Now, I'll give the three of you two hours to get off of my ship."

"Wait a second," Carlos started. "They won't be here at all?"

"What reason do they have to stay?" Sadi asked. "Without their powers, they're of no use to any of us."

"They're all part of this team," T.J. replied. "Ashley is one of our closest friends and we don't know enough about space to function without Andros and Zhane."

"That's what _I__'__m_ here for," Sadi said with a grin.

"No way," Cassie said. "It's bad enough that you're taking over the ship and half of the morphers. But now you're leading us? I'm out of here."

"Me too," Carlos and T.J. replied simultaneously.

Zhane smiled briefly at their loyalty, but allowed it to fade before he spoke. "Hold on a minute guys. Sadi isn't that bad of a leader. She knows a lot about space and…" He caught the unbelieving looks from the rangers as he looked up at them. "She's not worth abandoning your mission, you guys."

"Zhane's right," Andros agreed. "Don't leave on our account. You have to find Zordon and destroy Darkonda… But we'll find a way out of this before you have to deal with any of that."

"Yeah, we'll go pack our stuff and you guys can figure out what that plant is." Zhane said.

"What plant?" Sadi asked. "That pod thingy?"

"I'm sure that's the scientific name for it," Zhane said, rolling his eyes.

Sadi walked over to the plant that lay on the console behind her. "Actually," she began. "The scientific name is _Ladulis_ _medaponis_ and it doesn't do anything."

Andros walked over to Sadi. "Are you sure?"

"Well, you might break out in hives or sneeze if you're allergic to it, but… yeah, I'm sure." Sadi picked up the pod and shook it. She paused and shook it again. "It shouldn't be rattling like this though."

"Open it," Andros said.

The rangers all looked at one another, wondering how wise of a decision opening it might be. Finally, Andros sighed and reached for an Am-Scanner located on a console next to him. After pressing a short sequence of buttons, a smaller green laser appeared on the plant, cutting it open. Once the laser had made its way all around the plant, Andros put down the Am-Scanner and separated the pod pieces.

"Lame," Sadi said, turning away from the long dagger and medallion that fell out of the pod.

"Darkonda said that these were for you," Carlos remembered, turning to Andros. "So do you recognize these?"

When Andros didn't answer, Zhane picked up the red medallion and looked at it carefully before putting it back in the pod. "The medallion has the crest of the Dead Eye on it, worn by Gild planet warriors. Red medallions are given to the best of those fighters and they never leave their medallions behind unless they intend to come back for them."

"And the dagger?" T.J. asked.

"Based on its black blade, it probably belonged to a Kit or a Dass captain," Zhane explained, picking up the dagger. "They never leave their weapon of choice, unless of course it was stolen, which is more likely. Usually their weapons are buried with them."

"So if _we_ have the weapon, it's also likely that someone may be looking for it," Cassie asked. "So shouldn't we get rid of it in case it gets tracked to us?"

"Not possible," Zhane said. "It can't be traced like that. It's probably just a threat from Darkonda. I guess it wouldn't hurt to let DECA check it. There's also some blood on the hilt –"

Sadi walked over and grabbed the dagger from Zhane. "We'll take care of that. You need to pack," she said. But something on the dagger's blade caught her eye and she held it up to the light. "I think we have a second blood sample to analyze. It might lead us to the last person this was used on," Sadi continued. "The bloodprint on the hilt might give us enough to figure out the user's identity too."

"Why would you need to know who it was used on?" Zhane asked. "Whoever it was is probably dead."

"Unless the one it was used on lived to tell about it… or keep it from everyone. Right, Andros?" Sadi asked, turning around and finding him nowhere.

"Where'd he go?" Zhane asked, glancing around the bridge.

"Probably packing like I asked you to do five minutes ago," Sadi said. "He always was a good boy."

-0-0-0-0-0-

Zhane walked quietly to Andros' room, wondering if the sounds that he thought he heard from his room were sounds of him crying. He tapped lightly on his bedroom door, waiting until Andros invited him in even after the door opened.

"You okay?" Zhane asked uncomfortably.

Andros looked up at Zhane curiously before sitting up in his bed. "I guess so," he finally said. "Why?"

"I thought that I heard…I thought you were –" Zhane stammered.

"_Ashley__'__s_ crying," Andros said softly. "She's taking this whole thing pretty hard."

"That's because she doesn't know Sadi like we do," Zhane replied. "I didn't even pack all my stuff."

"Yeah," Andros sighed. "I think we can survive on a week's worth of stuff. Three weeks if she's really mad."

"Yeah," Zhane said hesitantly. "Any reason why you rejected Sadi's offer to find the weapon?"

Andros sighed again and looked down at his feet. "I was waiting for that," he said. "I'm surprised that you didn't ask me in front of her."

"It's less likely that you'll lie if I ask you now. Besides, I haven't told the others about this prophecy stuff yet." Zhane folded his arms and awaited an answer.

"Sadi offered to help us get to what might be the most powerful weapon in the universe," Andros replied. "If it's the weapon from the prophecy, then I'm the last person who should get their hands on it."

"Based on your so-called past?" Zhane scoffed.

Andros lifted his head and glared at Zhane. "What do you know about my past?" he exclaimed. "What do you know about anything?"

"Andros, relax," Zhane said gently. "Sadi's plan is obviously to play us against one another. Don't let her do that. I asked a simple question, that's all."

"A simple question with a complicated answer," Andros replied, calming down a little. "I just –I can't talk about this stuff right now, okay?"

"Between Omni-8 and the prophecy, what _can_ you talk about?"

Andros stood up, unable to meet Zhane's eyes as he did so. "Nothing," he said quietly. "I can't talk about anything right now. Just give me some time."

"When we get our morphers back," Zhane said. "That's when you have to tell me everything… Deal?"

Andros glanced up at Zhane, who stood with his hand out and waiting. "Deal," Andros said, shaking his hand briefly. "Now where're we staying while we wait Sadi out on this?"

"I called the Phantom Ranger a few hours ago," Zhane explained. "I guess I'll have to let him know that he's coming for three of us instead of just you."

"Actually," Andros began cautiously, wondering if he should even bother doing anything just yet. "I kind of want to take care of something first."


	16. Chapter 16

Ch 16

Andros knocked softly on Ashley's door, surprised when it opened right away. He looked in, watching Ashley tearfully peel the pictures and Angel Grove banners off the wall of the increasingly bare room.

"Ashley?" he said after a moment. She turned to him sadly and wiped away the tears in her eyes. "You can stop packing."

"Why? It isn't as though I have a reason to stay here anymore," she replied, causing the tears to return.

"I'm going to get your morpher back," Andros said, losing himself in her tears. He stepped closer to her and Ashley's head dropped as more tears began to fall. Andros slowly brought his fingers to her cheek, lightly brushing away the tears from her face. "I promise I'll get it back to you before I leave this ship."

Ashley looked up, her eyes meeting his distant stare that had temporarily made him unaware of the gentle motion of his hand against her skin. Her tears ceased at his touch, momentarily shifting her emotion from sadness to confusion.

"Sorry," Andros said softly, the vacant stare disappearing as he retracted his hand suddenly at her reaction.

"How are you going to get my morpher back?" Ashley asked him, glancing away from him as she felt her cheeks get hot. "Sadi already made it pretty clear that there was nothing that you could do about it."

"You don't know Sadi like Zhane and I do," Andros explained. "She wants to punish me, not you. And if I suggest a better way for her to punish me, I know that she'll take it –"

"Why would you do that? I thought that you didn't like me." Ashley's tears continued to fall relentlessly.

"Of course, I –I like you… all of you, really," Andros said uncomfortably, shifting his weight from one side to the other. "But I guess that I, um… I just don't want you to cry about this –not over something Sadi is doing to get back at _me_."

"Besides, I already know that you're a great Power Ranger," he said softly. "From what I've seen, you're a much better Yellow Ranger than Sadi ever was. She never had her priorities in order and she's given up her morpher more times than I have."

"I promise I'll get your morpher back," he added, edging toward her door, his discomfort disappearing immediately as the door shut behind him.

Watching Ashley cry made _him_feel awful, especially when he knew that it was his fault that she was crying… again. And he couldn't count on Sadi letting Ashley return after a couple of weeks. Sadi was not exactly known for being the most understanding person and if he didn't try now, there might not be a chance for Ashley to get her morpher back.

"Where're you going, killer?" he heard a little ways down the hall. He closed his eyes and sighed softly before turning to Sadi, who stood in front of Zhane's door, a bag in her hand.

"We need to talk," he said, walking toward her. "And I really want you to listen to me."

"And why should I do that?" she asked as Zhane's door opened and she tossed her bag to the floor.

"Hey," Zhane's voice called from within. "I'm still in here, you know."

"Then, get out," Sadi said firmly.

Andros glared at her, shaking his head in disgust at her and what he knew that he would have to do to get Ashley's morpher back. He removed the revulsion from his face and focused his thoughts on what needed to be done as Zhane left his room with a scowl, brushing past Andros and giving him a look.

Andros was familiar with that look and it always meant the same thing – 'she's going to make me hurt her.' That was the look, all right. And any other time, Andros would have nodded and mouthed 'I know' to his friend in full agreement, but not now. He only had a short time to get on her good side.

He was down to his only option now and there was no backup plan if he failed.

-0-0-0-0-

Ashley managed a small smile as Andros left her room and she sat on her bed. Where had this thoughtful and kind Andros been hiding for the past few days? It was refreshing to know that he was able to be that way, but she couldn't help feeling somewhat uneasy about it too. Maybe she would have been more comfortable around him if he had yelled at her a little.

She smiled a little wider at the ridiculousness of the thought. The first time that he had actually been angry enough to yell at her was far from pleasant and she had no idea why she would welcome it over the kindness that he had shown her.

"Everything okay?" Zhane asked, poking his head in the door. "Andros didn't make things worse for you, did he?"

"Actually, he said that he was going to get my morpher back," Ashley replied, wiping the rest of her tears away and sitting in her bed. "I guess that he's doing that now."

"That was nice of him," Zhane said, coming into her room and letting the door close behind him.

"Yeah, it was," Ashley said thoughtfully. "Is that… like him to do that?"

Zhane smiled to himself. "It definitely used to be. But then again, I don't really know him very well anymore."

"Should I have let him do that?" Ashley asked suddenly.

"Trade with Sadi?" Zhane asked, receiving a nod in return. "I doubt that you could have stopped him. And if I know Sadi, she'll probably make him do something humiliating or at least take something important to him."

Ashley looked up at Zhane, sickened at the thought of her morpher costing Andros his dignity. All of a sudden, she knew what Andros might have to part with and she began to feel angry with herself. She couldn't help but feel selfish for letting him give up anything for her. But she also couldn't help noticing that she hadn't moved from her bed.

-0-0-0-0-0-

Andros walked slowly up to Ashley's door and knocked gently, trying to hide his frustration before the door slid open. Just as before, the door opened right away. And just as before, Ashley was packing tearfully.

"What are you doing?" he asked her, walking into her room.

Ashley looked over at him sadly, trying to read the expression on his face. "Where is it?" she asked.

Andros pulled the morpher from his jacket pocket and held it out to her.

"Not that," she said tearfully. "Your locket. Where's your locket?"

Andros lowered his eyes. "I promised you that I'd get your morpher back. And if it means giving up my locket –"

"Then, I don't want it," Ashley exclaimed, turning back to her packing. "Not when you just exchanged your heart for my morpher!"

"It was just a locket, Ashley," Andros replied softly. "I'm not worried about it."

"Zhane told me that your dad gave it to you when you were little and that it's the only picture of your sister that you own."

Andros placed the morpher onto Ashley's desk and sighed. "I'll get my locket back eventually, but even if I don't, it won't change anything. Having a fourteen year old picture of my sister won't bring her back."

"But it still means something to you or else you wouldn't wear it," Ashley said, relaxing a little and sitting down on her bed. "My morpher isn't worth you bending to her will."

"I'll get my morpher back eventually," he said again. "But you're wrong. Your morpher _is_ worth it if it makes you happy. My morpher doesn't do that for me, neither does my locket. Most _people_ don't do that for me… But as far as I can tell, you like being a Power Ranger and you like being around people so… please take your morpher."

"Andros –"

"All I've done since we've met is make you unhappy," Andros interrupted. "Let me be able to say that I did _something_ to make you happy."

Ashley looked at Andros, unsure of what to make of him. Her uneasiness had returned as he seemed to become nicer and more sincere before her eyes. It almost felt unnatural for her to see him like that. She almost wished that he would yell at her to be rid of her uneasy feelings around this new Andros. It was very unfamiliar.

"You… you want me to yell at you?" Andros asked with a small smile.

Ashley blushed, standing up and picking up the morpher from her desk. "I keep forgetting about the mindreading thing."

"I didn't do it on purpose," Andros replied. "But why do you want me to yell at you?"

"I don't," Ashley said quickly, hiding her smile with her hair as she put her morpher onto her wrist. "It's just that you're so… nice all of a sudden. You're talking to me without seeming annoyed or angry. It's kind of how I figured you'd be the day we met you after Ecliptor attacked. What's changed?"

Andros looked away from her, knowing the right answer but not sure that he could really admit it now. "I never really hated you," he finally said. "And I guess I'm just tired of making everyone so miserable around here. So, in the very unlikely event that Sadi doesn't let me come back, I guess I'd rather leave things… amicable between us."

Ashley smiled again and shook her head, glad to accept amicability over nothing. She opened the top desk drawer and pulled something wrapped in a light blue cloth. "I want to give you something before you go," she said, holding it out to him.

Andros took the small, thin rectangular item from her and peeled back the blue cloth. Inside of it was a black makeup compact. He opened the compact, finding a mirror and a tiny gold necklace where makeup had once been.

"The necklace used to belong to my great-grandmother," Ashley explained. "She used to tell people that it brought her luck wherever she went. I don't know that any of her children really believed that, but… Well, she passed it to her daughter who passed it to hers. Then my mom passed it to me when I turned nine."

"Does it ever work for you?" Andros asked, removing the necklace from the compact.

"I can never be sure. Sometimes, I've had days when I feel like leaving it at home might have been a big mistake. Other times, I think that it's just a pretty necklace."

"Why do you want me to take this?" Andros asked. "Doesn't it mean something to you?"

"Of course it does. But even if it doesn't really bring luck, I'd feel better knowing that you had it since you don't have your morpher or your locket. You can share any luck it brings you with Zhane."

"Thank you," Andros said softly, placing the necklace into his jacket pocket. "But you'll have it back soon."

"Where will you stay until then?" Ashley asked.

"Zhane had already arranged for the Phantom Ranger to come by for me. He figured that Sadi would kick me off the ship. So, I suppose we'll stay on Eltar helping out with the reconstruction until further notice… We'll be okay," he added when Ashley began to look sad again.

"What did you do to her?" she finally asked, looking into Andros' increasingly troubled eyes.

"Does it matter?" he asked with a shrug.

"It must have been pretty bad if the Galactic Force let her kick you off your own ship," she said as Andros leaned against her desk, teasing his warm fingertips with the cold surface of the table. "So what did you do?"

Andros did not say anything, continuing to trace small circles onto the desk with his fingers. "Why do you think that I did something to her?" he asked hesitantly. "Did you ever consider that she might have done something to me?"

"What did you do?" she asked with a small smile.

As usual, Andros could not smile back at her but he looked up at her, knowing that meeting her eyes would be a mistake. And it was as the truth forced his mouth to form words. "I hurt a friend of hers…"

"On purpose?" Ashley asked.

"Of course, I did," he said softly, the sadness in his voice more apparent than he had planned to let on.

"Why would you do that?"

"Because he deserved it," he answered. "Besides, if I hadn't done it, Zhane or my brother would have. I just got to him first."

"Did he hurt someone?" she asked, trying to come up with any good excuse for him that might make his actions somewhat excusable.

"Yes… and I made sure that he would think twice before doing what he did again," Andros replied as the muscles in his arms began to give out a little and he stood up straight, sitting on top of the desk. "But Sadi isn't mad about that, she's upset about what it cost her –her morpher and attention from other guys… After that day, guys were afraid of her because they thought that I had hurt him out of jealousy."

"You didn't?" Ashley asked.

"I don't like Sadi," he said quickly, shaking his head. "She's too… is there an Earth word for someone who has different boyfriends every week?"

"Yeah," Ashley said with a small smile. "And I probably shouldn't teach you that particular word. But I think I understand."

"The point is that I don't like her. The guys that she's with don't even like her –they just want to sleep with her."

"Oh… So what did her friend do?" she asked, failing to find the answer in his downcast eyes.

"He said something that he knew would force me into a fight… I'll leave it at that."

"Okay," Ashley said with a nod, not wanting to risk upsetting him. "So what should we know about Sadi?"

Andros sighed to himself, perhaps even at the thought of Sadi, before he looked back up at Ashley. "She's not far from completely evil. But she does have _some_ humanity in her."

"What do you think she'll make us do?"

"It depends. It's not her style to destroy people physically. She'll do whatever she can to get inside your heads and turn you against me –which may not be very hard to do."

"So she lies?" Ashley asked.

"No," he said hesitantly. "She wouldn't have to lie to turn you guys against me. Besides, she's not much of a liar."

"So if we leave her alone, will she at least leave _us_ alone?"

"I wouldn't count on that," Andros replied distantly, putting his hands into his pockets. "Just watch yourself around her and I think that you'll be okay."

-0-0-0-0-0-

"Isn't there anything we can do?" T.J. asked Zhane for what had felt like the one millionth time.

"Guys, don't worry," Zhane said, adjusting the shoulder strap of his bag. "It'll all work out and Andros and I will get our morphers back soon."

"But what about Ashley?" Cassie asked.

Zhane smiled a little to himself. "Andros already took care of that."

"Meaning what?" Carlos asked suspiciously.

"Andros traded something for her morpher, I think," Zhane said. "Try not to mention it."

"So… where will you and Andros go until Sadi gives in?" T.J. asked.

"Eltar," Zhane sighed. "The Phantom Ranger should be here soon to get us."

"The Phantom Ranger is coming here?" Cassie asked, almost happily.

"Yeah," Zhane answered, raising an eyebrow at her. "Excited are we?"

Cassie blushed. "A little," she admitted. "Sorry."

"While you are on Eltar, please take this with you," Alpha said, walking over to Zhane and placing a small box into his hands. "But do not open it until you reach the Aco Hills."

"Is this… what I think it is?" Zhane asked, in awe of the small white box.

"It certainly is," Alpha nodded. "Just remember to point it away from you when you're ready to open it."

"Thanks, Alpha," Zhane said, putting the box into his bag.

"What is it?" Carlos asked.

"Something that Sadi does _not_ need to know about," Zhane answered before Alpha could explain. "So, the less you know, the better."

Sadi walked onto the bridge, followed closely by the Phantom Ranger. The Phantom Ranger stopped a short distance from Cassie, who couldn't help but blush a little.

"Hello, rangers," he greeted them. "I apologize that we must meet under conditions such as these."

"It's just good to see you again," Cassie replied. "We weren't sure if you had been captured with Zordon during Dark Specter's attack."

"After the rumors I've heard, it's even better to know that you all are okay. I only wish that I had been on Earth to help you with Divatox's army."

"So do we," Carlos replied. "Any leads on Zordon's location?"

"Not exactly," the Phantom Ranger answered. "But I've recently been asked to protect a very important weapon. As a result, I haven't had much time to look for him."

"What kind of weapon is so important that your superiors won't allow you to look for Zordon?" T.J. asked.

"The Demon Sword of Kurakk," Andros said, walking onto the bridge with Ashley close behind.

"How did you know that?" the Phantom Ranger asked.

"It's the weapon that I discussed with Sadi," Andros replied. "She had some information on it and she suggested that we go after it."

"Why didn't we do it?" Carlos asked. "Or did you decide that you'd rather go after it alone?"

"I'd rather not go after it at all," Andros said. "Many good people and horrible monsters have died trying to get that sword. Besides, I'm the last person who should get that weapon."

"No, Dark Specter is," the Phantom Ranger retorted. "That's why I was ordered to protect it. But you've made a wise decision, Andros. Going after the Demon Sword of Kurakk would be too dangerous for even you."

Andros nodded in agreement. He wasn't so sure that the other rangers wouldn't be able to handle it but he couldn't afford to take that chance. They still didn't trust him yet and they'd never make it out of the long, cold caves of Kurakk without having that trust.

"We should begin our journey to Eltar," the Phantom Ranger said. "Let us be on our way."

"So sorry to see you go," Sadi said, giving Andros a long fake hug. He tensed as she neared him, fighting the urge to push her away from him and onto the floor. But Sadi already knew that he felt that way, deciding that it was a risk that she was willing to take. As she released him, she could feel the others glaring angrily at her.

Andros, Zhane, and the Phantom Ranger made their way to the Megalift, standing silently as the doors closed behind them. The others watched sadly from the viewing screen as they watched them board the Phantom Ranger's ship and speed away.

"Anyone else hungry?" Sadi asked with a smile.


	17. Chapter 17

Ch 17

"_Rem, stop. You don't want to do this," Andros pleaded telepathically to the large man who stood facing him with a raised club. "You can stop this."_

"_You and I both know that there are no choices left," Rem replied, giving him a side kick to the back and an elbow to Andros' stomach. "There is no need to avoid the inevitable. One of us will die whether this fight happens or not."_

_The last blows had brought Andros to his knees and he struggled to recover, but Rem's club connected with his back, sending him to the ground. He rolled away as Rem's foot came down hard where his head had just been. His fighting skills were no match for Rem's and Rem showed no signs of going easy on him._

_Rem continued to stomp his big foot down, aiming for Andros' head every time. Andros finally rolled away far enough to get back onto his feet, his back aching as he stood. He ran at Rem, landing a few blows to his stomach with his foot._

"_Bad move, Red Ranger," Rem said, quickly recovering. "We end this now."_

_Andros saw Rem drop the club and reach into his back pocket, pulling out a long dagger with a bloody hilt, likely the blood of his enemies. Rem took a different fighting stance and closed his eyes. Andros stood frozen, knowing that any move he made toward Rem might be his last. He had seen Rem fight like this once before, a fight that had ended in minutes with Rem as the victor. Even if Rem attacked the exact same way as before, there was no way that Andros could match his speed._

_But he couldn't just stand there either. Andros eyed the club that Rem had dropped and ran to pick it up as Rem stood silently waiting for Andros to charge at him, his eyes still closed. Just as Andros had witnessed weeks before, Rem waited until he felt a presence inches from his dagger before swiping at it. Two slashes to the throat, which were slow enough to block with the club… Three easily avoidable jabs to the abdomen… _

_Finally, came the attack that Andros feared –an upward slash from the chest to the throat, one across the throat, and the breaking of the neck. Just as he feared, his speed was no match for Rem's, narrowly avoiding the upward slash. As Rem stepped forward to deliver the next slash with the dagger, Andros saw the blood fly off the dagger before he felt the wound and he brought a hand to his neck to stop the bleeding. With Andros briefly distracted, Rem quickly took the opportunity to jam the dagger's black blade deeply into Andros' side._

_Andros dropped the club and fell to his knees, unable to stand from what had felt like a fatal injury. Rem towered over him, bending down to snatch the dagger from Andros' side._

"_It is quite unfortunate that I missed, Red Ranger," Rem said. "I meant to make your death quick and painless for you. At least you can know what an honor it is that you lasted as long as you did."_

_Andros lifted his head weakly as the black blade of the dagger came down on him._

"Andros, wake up," Zhane said, shaking him.

Andros opened his eyes, realizing once again that he was on his feet. Phantom Ranger released Andros' arms which had been held behind his back until that moment.

"I was sleepwalking again?" Andros asked, rubbing his eyes.

Zhane nodded. "One minute you're taking a snooze on the bridge, the next you're on your feet again. What were you dreaming about this time?"

"Was I fighting again?" he asked, waving off Zhane's question as he took in the increasingly familiar surroundings of Phantom Ranger's ship.

"I'm not sure that what you were doing can be considered fighting," Phantom Ranger replied. "You were trying to kill us."

"That was the Var Ta D'nig style from the Kit warriors of Garmezu," Zhane said. "That's how you fought the quantrons the day you ran after Darkonda."

"Is that why everyone was just staring at me that day?" Andros asked.

"Well, you don't usually see that kind of brutality with quantrons. The Var Ta D'nig is for killing, something that we've been trained _not_ to do." Zhane waited until Andros was able to look him in the eye before continuing. "Who taught you to fight like that?"

Andros looked away from him with a sigh. "I learned it on Omni-8 from a warrior called Rem."

Zhane took a step toward him. "Rem of Sa'v adi Hum, the third-level Kit warrior? The legendary human that fought Dark Specter one-on-one and lived to tell about it? _That_Rem? I don't remember seeing him when we rescued all those people –"

"That's because he was dead," Andros interrupted somewhat in frustration. "I mean, he _is_ dead. But he taught me a few things –things that aren't that easy to forget."

"So the dagger that Darkonda sent _was_ from Omni-8," Zhane said. "Why'd you disappear instead of just saying something?"

"I don't know," Andros replied, hoping that Zhane wouldn't try to read his thoughts now. "But it wasn't our concern anymore, just like Sadi said."

Zhane scoffed. "What are you, nuts? This whole thing with that monster is centered on you. How can you say that it wasn't your concern anymore?"

"Zhane," Phantom Ranger said as he stepped between Andros and Zhane, hoping to quell the rising tension that he sensed between the two. "Did you not mention that there was something that you needed to see to before you begin work on Eltar?"

Zhane nodded, cutting his eyes from Andros and pulling out the small box that Alpha had given him earlier.

"Is that… an Eltarian dorig?" Phantom Ranger asked, stepping closer to Zhane to get a good look.

Again, Zhane nodded.

"How did you get an oracle?" Andros asked, carefully taking it from him and looking at it with awe.

"One of the Stranger planets had it and didn't know what it was," Zhane explained. "So, Alpha offered to take it off their hands."

"Alpha would never allow something so dangerous to come into our possession," Phantom Ranger said.

"Not without some prodding from me," Zhane said with a smile. "Besides, we're taking it where it belongs –on Eltar. If we happen to accidently open it and ask the oracle a question, then…"

"Was it not foretold that the oracles could cause a hole to be ripped in the universe?" Phantom Ranger asked.

"A 'rupture of the space-time continuum' kind of hole or a 'destruction' kind of hole?" Andros asked.

"A 'destroy-everything-within-350,000-miles' kind of hole," Zhane replied. "It takes a lot of energy to call an oracle to this universe and there's always a price for waking oracles –nothing we can't handle."

Phantom Ranger shook his head. "I cannot allow you to use this," he said. "It is too dangerous. Between the seven dorigs and the Demon Sword of Kurakk –"

"There are seven of these things?" Andros asked. "Where?"

"Eltar, Ruk, Cenat, Liodes, Milodi, KO-35, and Earth," Zhane recited, receiving a confused look from Andros. "The ones on KO-35 and Earth were news to me too."

"They all have temples, but they have managed to fall into the hands of humans and other creatures who do not know the secret to using one," Phantom Ranger said. "Are either of you knowledgeable about bringing forth the oracles?"

Andros shook his head as Zhane nodded.

"It just has to be used on the planet that it belongs to," Zhane said.

"And no one else has been able to figure that out?" Andros asked, somewhat embarrassed that he had not thought of it himself.

"The first thing that you do when you steal something is leave the planet that you stole it from so that you aren't caught," Zhane explained. "But the ones who figured out _how_ to call an oracle probably didn't know that the oracles require sacrifices or gifts of some kind."

"What would an oracle want?" Andros asked.

"Depends on the oracle," Zhane replied with a shrug. "Iides, our oracle for example, loves Eltarian flowers."

Andros sighed. "Well, what do we ask her?" he asked, handing the dorig back to Zhane.

"I don't know but she's a tricky one… Rumor has it that other oracles will answer up to three questions, but Iides only answers one. So we should probably make it a good one."

"Nothing good comes from talking to an oracle," Phantom Ranger stressed. "The last time that an oracle was brought forth, the prophecy was born. And it has affected all of our lives negatively."

"But we may be able to find a way to end the prophecy or to find Zordon," Zhane argued. "Or we may even be able to find Karone." He glanced at Andros, who was already deep in thought about that exact possibility.

The destruction of the universe was a rather big gamble just to ask one question about where his sister might be. And if the answer is that she is dead, then they will have wasted a question. Besides, finding her was not the main priority and it never had been, not even for him. And the same possibility came with _any_ question that they might decide to ask.

"Then, why not ask another oracle, one who may actually provide you with those answers?" Andros asked, snapping out of his temporary trance.

"Iides requires less energy," Phantom Ranger answered. "But if the A.D.A. Galactic Force finds out that you've used a dorig –"

"And how would they find out?" Zhane asked, challenging the Phantom Ranger with his eyes.

"Zhane, I am required to give reports to them regularly," Phantom Ranger said, not at all threatened by Zhane's narrowed eyes in spite of the two inches of height Zhane had over him. "If they ask about why you two are using my ship to go to Eltar and why I am not currently guarding the Demon Sword of Kurakk or why they feel a shift in the universe after you call Iides, what am I supposed to tell them?"

"They know that Sadi took over the ship," Zhane said. "Just tell them that we are now on a fact-finding mission and we had no other way to Eltar."

"There are a hundred other allies that could have taken you to Eltar," Phantom Ranger said.

"But only one that we trust enough not to completely rat us out," Zhane replied, putting an arm around Phantom Ranger's shoulders. "What do you say, buddy?"

Phantom Ranger looked to Andros, but even Andros' eyes seemed to plead with him now and the Phantom Ranger sighed.

"Fact-finding mission," he said aloud, hearing how it might sound when he tried to explain this to the A.D.A. Galactic Force. "I suppose that it isn't a lie exactly."

"Not at all," Zhane said, giving his shoulder a pat before removing his arm from around the Phantom Ranger and putting the dorig back into his bag. "And if they ask why we asked you, then you can tell them that no one else in the whole universe could have helped us with this fact-finding mission the way that you could."

"I suppose that isn't a lie either," Phantom Ranger replied with a sigh. "But if I'm put into a position where the complete truth has to be told, I can't lie for you guys. You two are my friends but –"

"Say no more," Zhane said with a smile. "If the situation presents itself, we won't deny the truth to anyone, especially not to the A.D.A. Galactic Force."

-0-0-0-0-0-

Astronema sighed, impatiently awaiting Darkonda's return on the Dark Fortress' bridge. The thought that perhaps Darkonda had failed constantly crossed her mind as her fingertips tapped against the arm of the chair in which she sat.

Hours had passed since Darkonda had left the ship and she had not heard from him at all since then. And as the day had gone on, her mind had gone from Darkonda's failure and fear of returning to her to his possible destruction by the rangers –even though Darkonda had come highly recommended by Dark Specter himself and had received several lives from him. But not even Dark Specter had told her exactly how many lives he had given him or how many were left.

Astronema looked over to the entrance of the bridge and sighed, feeling a sense of déjà-vu. Things were already moving too slowly for her. The plan was fairly solid but she was not as fond of the mind games as Darkonda and Dark Specter seemed to be. Besides, she was more than certain that it would take more time than she had hoped to get inside the Red Ranger's head.

"Darkonda has returned," Ecliptor announced as he walked onto the bridge and took his place beside her.

"Finally," she replied irately, standing from her seat as Darkonda stood before her and bowed. "What took you so long?"

"I apologize for the delay, Princess Astronema," he said. "But I come before you bearing a most gracious gift… access to the Astro Megaship."

Astronema narrowed her eyes at him and took a step toward him, her staff in hand and ready to punish him for such a blatant lie. "There's no way that you had time to take over the Megaship."

"Well… no," Darkonda said, eyeing her staff cautiously but confident enough to stop himself from backing away from her. "But I have the next best thing." He pulled out a handheld device and turned a knob on its side.

"So do we," a voice was saying just as the device clicked on. "Any leads on Zordon's location?"

"Is that a ranger's voice?" she asked, quickly walking over and greedily grabbing the device from Darkonda.

"It is, indeed," Darkonda said with a laugh. "And I recently overheard some important information about the Red Ranger."

"What is it?" she asked, her eyes fixed on the small rectangular machine in her hand that continued to churn out the rangers' voices.

"The Red Ranger has had his morpher taken from him," he answered. "He and the Silver Ranger are heading to Eltar –powerless, weakened, and alone."

"Perfect," Astronema said as a smile crept across her face. "The Red and Silver Rangers can't morph and they no longer have the protection of the Astro Megaship. We should send them the welcoming committee for when they get to Eltar –maybe the same that Zordon received upon his return."

"Shall I do the honors?" Darkonda asked. "I didn't get a chance to really fight either of them and I –"

"You're needed elsewhere, Darkonda," Astronema said, holding the device up to her ear as she waved him quiet. "One of the rangers just mentioned the Demon Sword of Kurakk and I want _you_ to use your endless connections to find out everything that you can about it. If the rangers decide to go after it, they can lead us right to it."

"But I can be of more use to you if –" Darkonda began.

"Ecliptor," she said, turning from Darkonda suddenly as she cut him off. "Meet the Red and Silver Rangers on Eltar and see just how powerless they are now. But remember to stick to the plan."

Darkonda watched as Ecliptor left the ship's bridge to retrieve a group of quantrons to take with him to Eltar, while Astronema slowly paced back and forth with the rangers' voices close to her ear.

_Dark_ _Specter__'__s_ _weak_ _human_ _princess_, he could not help thinking to himself, not caring that his thoughts might be heard. _Pathetic__human__trash__like__her__gets__the__Dark__Fortress,__gets__endless__arsenal,__and__even__has__thousands__of__quantrons__at__her__disposal.__Trash__like__her__does__not__deserve__anything__that__Dark__Specter__is__willing__to__give._

Why would she refuse to use him to fight the rangers? Even when he had gone to Earth, it was the quantrons that made physical contact with the rangers more than he did.

He had a plan for the rangers too, one that would speed things along more quickly than Astronema and Dark Specter's doomed plan. So why did she tell him to attack and force him to hold back every time? Why keep the Red Ranger alive?

But the truth was becoming apparent now. Astronema only used him because Dark Specter had ordered her to. Maybe the plan was not to destroy the Power Rangers at all. Maybe their plan had a slightly different end than what he had been told when he agreed to take part in it. Well if she did not allow him to –

"What will you do, Darkonda?" Astronema asked, her eyes piercing into him threateningly as she positioned her staff at his chest. "If I don't allow you to do whatever it is that you came here to do, what is it that you think you'll have time to do to me before I destroy you? … Dark Specter made me his Princess of Evil because I earned it."

She poked at Darkonda with the staff, her eyes narrowed in anger. "I'd be happy to demonstrate some of the things that I had to do to get to where I am today," she said. "But if I were you, I wouldn't throw thoughts like that around here. I'd hate to have to destroy you… As for utilizing the best of your abilities, I'm having you do what you do best –use your connections to find out as much as you can about the Red Ranger and this so-called prophecy that seems to involve him."

"I don't ask much from you, Darkonda," she said. "But I plan to do so very soon and I need you to save those lives of yours –that's why you mustn't attack until I give the order –and even then, I will tell you when to stop holding back. But I need your patience, something that I knew would be hard to come by… If you choose to stay, then follow orders and find out about that weapon. But if you choose to leave, I won't try to stop you. I just hope that you'll be prepared to explain your reasoning to Dark Specter."

Darkonda growled a little but nodded, walking from the bridge as Astronema lowered her staff. The plan would be followed, he decided.

At least until it began to interfere with his own plan.


	18. Chapter 18

Ch 18

At least two hours had passed since Phantom Ranger had dropped Andros and Zhane off on Eltar.

He had made a last minute decision not to mention his detour from Kurakk to his superiors, opting instead not to say anything at all unless he was specifically asked. He had purposely chosen to drop them off in front of the Siy buildings, the shelters specifically built for any survivors of Dark Specter's last attack and a twenty-mile walk from the Aco Hills. Then, wishing them luck, he had almost literally disappeared as they turned to wave goodbye, leaving Andros and Zhane breathing in the light smoke from the ship's thrusters.

It was a slow walk to the shelter's door as they dragged their feet for the last ten paces. Neither of them was in much of a hurry to mingle with the Eltarians, the people in pain that lay in their temporary homes, daydreaming of the way things used to be, about the way things ought to be. To be around the Eltarians would be like being around the Karovan Rebels.

But what really worried them was the fact that it would not take long for Zhane and Andros to become those people, mirroring their pain and suffering. And without the power to fight back, it would be easy to drudge up memories of their fallen friends and of the pain that accompanied it. Unfortunately, avoiding these people would not help anything, as the feelings would still be with them. Besides, these were not people that needed to be avoided. These were people who needed hope, though they might lose whatever was left of it if they recognized the two fallen rangers.

Zhane was the first to step in front of the door, lifting his gaze from the ground as it opened and glancing back to see Andros do the same. They were instantly met with the blank stares of the Eltarians, most of them laying lazily on one of the several rows of beds that stretched from one wall to the other. No one said a word, barely acknowledging them as they made their way down through the nearly comatose group of people.

"What happened?" Andros asked, looking around him with a sigh.

"They're practically dead," Zhane said softly. "Dark Specter killed whatever it was that kept them going and they're dying."

"But they still have something to live for," Andros said, clenching his fists. "They get to stay on their planet, live here with their loved ones… our people didn't have that luxury."

"Luxury?" Zhane questioned, glancing back at him briefly. "Did you really just use that word?"

Andros did not answer but looked at the people surrounding him on all sides, disgusted by the fact that he might already be on his way to becoming one of them –dead on the inside and hopeless.

"Excuse me, but you aren't from around here, are you?" someone asked quietly, making them turn around.

"No, we're um… but we were –" Andros began, facing the tall dark-haired man that stood awaiting their answer.

"We _are_ Power Rangers," Zhane interjected. "We come from KO-35."

"You're rangers?" the man asked, clasping his hands together in excitement. "Did you bring others? Was Zordon found?"

"We haven't found Zordon," Andros said gently. "But we're… working on it."

"Then what brings you here with us? We have very few supplies to offer you, but I'm sure that –"

"No," Zhane interrupted. "We're not here to take anything. We're here to help out, rebuild houses – you know, anything we can do to help."

"Well, we will gladly accept any help you are willing to offer," he replied with a bow, glancing up at them. "If you will both follow me, I will give you an overview of the areas that need the most care."

He slowly turned from them and walked toward the back of the large room, briefly looking back to make sure that the rangers were following him.

"For so many people to be here, there must be almost no buildings left," Andros said.

"There are many destroyed homes," the man nodded, continuing to lead the way. "But we have been more focused on getting our _people_ built up again first. So many of them are weak, and as supplies run low, they become more and more desperate. It is not long before they are willing to give away our position for a few morsels of food or worse –for promises of safety for themselves."

"Has that happened yet?" Andros asked, slowing his steps as he cautiously eyed the stranger that they followed to who-knows-where.

"At least once that I know of," the man answered. "But you needn't worry for your own safety. This place is a sanctuary."

"There _is_ no sanctuary in times of war," Andros said, ignoring Zhane's warning glare. "Not even in times of peace… Dark Specter won't avoid attacking places just because you call it a sanctuary… Where exactly are you taking us?"

"It is sad that you have no faith in your fellow man, Red Ranger," the man said as they all finally reached a door. He walked through it, glancing back to ensure that he was being followed. "And I hope that this moment will not lead you to draw negative conclusions about our people."

Andros and Zhane looked around to find that they were outside again, in the back of the building now, and not at all alone as the sounds of quantrons filled the air. And in the center of it all was Ecliptor, wielding his dark sword and waiting until the door closed behind the rangers before motioning for the quantrons to attack.

Immediately, the large group of quantrons charged at the rangers with their weapons, swiping at whatever part of them that they could see over each other. Zhane ignored his gut reaction to go after Ecliptor first, choosing instead to help Andros fight off as many quantrons as possible before they went after Ecliptor together.

But as he looked over his shoulder, it was apparent that Andros was more than capable now to take care of the quantrons alone… that is, capable as long as he fought using the Var Ta D'nig style that he had grown so comfortable with.

The quantrons were falling every which way, violently hitting the back wall of the building or flipped onto their backs to the ground. Though he was doing a considerable amount of damage to a few quantrons himself, Zhane could not help but feel like Andros was being a little brutal, thinking that maybe it would not have seemed so violent if Andros had not chosen to sadistically rip away pieces of their armor, his hands cut up and bloody from the metal and his eyes glazed over in a way that Zhane had seen twice before now.

_But he can't be sleepwalking, _Zhane thought to himself as he struck three quantrons down with a single kick and pushed through the standing group of quantrons toward Andros. But he was quickly separated from him again by Ecliptor's sword, having already grown aggravated at being left out of the fight with the powerless rangers.

Zhane fought against the monster, not able to do much on his own except avoid Ecliptor's weapon. Without the ability to morph, it was all that he could do without Andros' help. Moments passed as he fought without a single blow connecting with Ecliptor. But Zhane was far from focused now, glancing back at Andros between dodges. Andros continued to trash the quantrons, more than okay on his own.

But Zhane's mind snapped back to his own fight as Ecliptor's fist found his stomach and an elbow to the back sent him to the ground.

"What's the matter, Silver Ranger?" Ecliptor asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Why don't you morph?"

Zhane looked up at him, forgetting the dull pain in his stomach and stood to his feet, his eyes narrowed and his own confidence suddenly skyrocketing.

"I'm just warming up," he said. "But I don't need my powers to defeat you, Ecliptor."

Ecliptor growled and charged at him, but Zhane was ready this time. He felt faster now, actually landing several blows before getting hold of Ecliptor's own sword and striking at him with it. Once Ecliptor was down on the ground, Zhane held the sword at Ecliptor's chest.

"Leave Eltar," he said as threateningly as he could as he tried to catch his breath. "And don't return here again."

"Or what?" Ecliptor asked defiantly.

"Or I'll destroy you," Zhane said, pressing the sword's tip against Ecliptor's chest. "The people around here have suffered enough without you and your princess' lackeys running around here."

"We didn't come here for the Eltarians," Ecliptor said.

"Then you came for us," Zhane concluded. "I wouldn't do that again either."

"What I came for was to see _that_," Ecliptor said, nodding toward Andros as he continued to fight the few quantrons that were not sprawled on the ground by his feet.

"What did you do to him?" Zhane asked Ecliptor, turning from Andros' fight. "Why is he fighting like that?"

But Ecliptor was long gone now, and with him, the fallen quantrons. Zhane looked down at his now empty hand, wondering if there would have been a way to keep Ecliptor's sword away from him.

He looked over at Andros, who stood silently with his back against the wall of the building, trying to catch his breath, the same look in his eyes as before.

"Andros," Zhane began, cautiously starting toward him. "Are you okay?"

"M'orru han hes," he replied distantly. "Ior mies aesid hes."

"Andros," Zhane said louder, taking a step backward when Andros pushed himself away from the wall. "Snap out of it."

"M'orru han hes," Andros said again, taking a step toward Zhane before closing his eyes.

"Wake up, Andros," Zhane said, taking a defensive stance, knowing that no good could come from Andros' eyes closing.

As he had guessed, Andros took an offensive stance, lunging at Zhane with a series of pressure point moves intended to kill. Zhane sloppily dodged his efforts, glad that he was able to do so effectively enough while knowledgeable enough to know that he would not last long if he did not start focusing again. But how do you focus when your best friend is trying to kill you?

Andros' moves were perfect, proficient and quick as he performed one move after another. Zhane knew that he would not be able to counter him without a break in Andros' moves, which there seemed to be none. He suddenly seemed to be alternating between Var Ta D'nig style and his normal style of fighting, unpredictable as to when either of them would show up.

Finally, Zhane caught a break and Andros' foot slipped on a fairly simple roundhouse kick, allowing for Zhane to regain his own footing and prepare for the next cycle of attacks.

But the mistake must have only angered Andros, who opened his eyes and charged at Zhane, moving even faster than before. Zhane was able to let out a sigh before Andros' fists straightened into stiff pointed hands whose only target seemed to be Zhane's chest. Zhane successfully blocked every move thrown at him, trying to keep in mind that this was not a simple sparring match.

"Andros, wake up," Zhane tried again as he avoided a fist to the face. "It's me, Zhane. Wake up."

But Andros' did not respond, choosing instead to attempt a pressure point move to Zhane's heart that Zhane just barely evaded. It was only then that Zhane gained a second opening and brought an elbow to Andros' chest, the force of it sending him two steps back to the wall, his head connecting with it loudly enough for Zhane to forget his friend's current hypnotic state as he rushed over to help him up.

Andros brought a hand up to the scar on his head, an action that Zhane found especially odd since Andros had only hit the back of his head on the wall.

"What just happened?" Andros asked after a moment.

"Are you kidding me?" Zhane exclaimed as Andros stood to his feet. "You just tried to kill me…_again_."

"Oh," Andros said softly, looking away momentarily.

"Oh?" Zhane repeated in frustration. "Just '_oh'_?"

"Sorry," Andros muttered.

Zhane opened his mouth, closing it when no words would come right away, shaking his head with a sigh.

"I'm sorry, Zhane," Andros said again. "I don't know what I'm supposed to say. You know that I'm not doing it on purpose."

"I know that," Zhane said, not sure of what to say either. "But this is the third time that this has happened. Don't you think that we should look into this?"

"Look into what?"

"That scar," Zhane said, pointing at it almost accusingly.

"What makes you think that this scar has anything to do with what I've been doing?" Andros asked, bringing his hand up to it again and running his fingers across it. "It's… just a scar," he added distantly as he finally allowed his hand to leave it, turning back to look Zhane in the eye. "It's just a scar."

"You know what the Cromians did to you on Omni-8, don't you?" Zhane asked as Andros' eyes quickly lost contact with his own.

"How could I not?" Andros said with a frown. "I was there… but I'm not sure why they did it or what they did."

"You just said –"

"I know _that_ the Cromians did something to my brain," Andros sighed. "But I don't know _what_ they did to it."

"Or why," Zhane reaffirmed, crossing his arms as he awaited contact with Andros' eyes again. Surprisingly, it was not long before Andros looked over at him. "Well… what do you suppose that we do? This is obviously getting worse and worse –you weren't even asleep this time."

Andros shrugged. "Maybe it comes from fighting," he replied.

"Did you do a lot of that on Omni-8?" Zhane asked, hoping for the tiniest hint about Andros' hellish encounter with the Cromians.

But Andros didn't answer, looking back at the door of the Siy building with a sigh and picking up his bag. "Did they get the dorig?"

"It's fine," Zhane said, walking over to where he had dropped it and peeking inside to be sure. "It's fine," he said again.

"I guess we won't be staying here tonight," Andros said as he started away from the building, looking over the horizon and beyond the bright oranges and pinks of the sunset to the distant Aco hills. "We should probably get a head-start on our hike."

"The Eltarians didn't exactly drive us away, you know," Zhane said, though he let Andros lead him further and further away until he suddenly looked back to find the largest of the Siy buildings in the distance.

They walked silently across the grassy plains that made up Eltar, heading toward the legendary Aco hills that neither of them were extremely familiar with, every once in a while passing by a small group of people that either eyed them curiously or not at all as they clutched the ground and sobbed for peace and hope.

And each time, Andros and Zhane's eyes would meet, sad that they could not be of help and angry that peace and hope had been taken so cruelly from them and so many other planets like their own. But they continued on in silence, still uncertain of what to say and not daring to make light of the situation. Even a friendly smile to the Eltarians as they passed seemed offensive and cruel, but they both forced a half-smile when the Eltarians thought it better to do so themselves.

Hours passed before the sun's light faded into pitch-black darkness and they finally reached a secluded area without people or buildings of any kind, just the grass that seemed to thrive in spite of its planet's continued suffering.

"We should probably rest here," Andros said, sitting down and stretching out on the grass, propping his head on his bag. "It's too dark to go any further."

"I'm surprised that we made it as far as we did," Zhane said, lying back on his own bag, shifting the uncomfortable dorig from directly under his head. "How far do you think we got?"

"At least ten miles," Andros said as his eyes began to adjust to the dim starlight that allowed him to find Zhane's figure in the dark a couple of feet away. "If we don't stop, we should reach the Aco hills by nightfall tomorrow."

"What about food… and other essentials?" Zhane asked. "Eltar doesn't have much to offer us right now in the way of those things."

"I asked Phantom Ranger for rations before we left the ship, so we should be okay for a couple of weeks if we only eat twice a day," Andros replied.

Zhane let out a groan just as both of their stomachs did, none of them sounding very happy about the temporary eating arrangements. But it immediately grew quiet and so began the silent study of the dark Eltarian skies as more stars seemed to appear from nowhere, casting a light blue glow on their surroundings.

"It wasn't Karovan," Zhane almost whispered as if to avoid ruining the tranquil moment, though he knew that he would ruin it by speaking about anything except hopes, dreams, or the heavenly body of stars.

"What wasn't Karovan?" Andros asked already regretfully.

"What you were saying before you started fighting me," he replied. "It wasn't Karovan, it was a Garmezian language."

"How do you know Garmezian and not Karovan?"

"All my life, I wanted to be as great a fighter as the Kit warriors," Zhane replied, seemingly mesmerized by his own memories for a second. "Kit warriors like Rem… they were masters of their arts if nothing else. All I wanted to do was study under them as a kid."

"Real heroes, huh?" Andros said with a tone that was unclear even to him.

"M'orru han hes," Zhane recited, his eyes still focused on the stars. "Ior mies aesid hes… That's what you said – 'I belong to one master. My master has trained me well'."

"I said that?" Andros asked, turning his head away from the night sky.

"I figured that maybe you heard Rem say it or something," Zhane said with a shrug. "But I'm sure that you won't tell me anything about it."

Andros said nothing, hoping that if he was quiet long enough Zhane might think him asleep. Omni-8 was the last thing that he needed on his mind as long as he was still sleepwalking.

"That's what I figured," Zhane said with a sigh. "But it's okay… I won't ask again unless I wake up to you choking me in my sleep or something. You have a right to your privacy."

"_Zhane_," Andros replied softly, trying to hide in his voice the guilt of hiding things from his best friend.

"I'm just messing with you," Zhane said, though he did not sound like it. "I'm just trying to get my mind clear, so I'm saying some of the stuff in my head to get it all out."

"Maybe we should just try to get some sleep," Andros said softly, turning on his side away from Zhane. "We have a long day ahead of us."

"Yeah, you're right," Zhane said. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," Andros replied softly, his mind full with the events of the day –the quantrons, the Eltarians, and the fight between him and Zhane that he could not recall, at least not very clearly. Immediately following were the thoughts of the dozen or so fights like it that he _did_ remember from Omni-8, fights against humans rather than his Cromian captors.

Andros shuddered at the thought and brought his hand up to his head again, briefly making contact with the scar and letting his hand drift down to the locket that was not there anymore. He had just barely remembered what he had done with it and the lie that he had told Ashley about how little it meant to him, but when he did he let out a heavy sigh and turned onto his back again.

He stared up at the stars, finding comfort in looking at them as he had done not so long ago. Eltar was in no way similar to Omni-8 in appearance, but these stars were just as familiar to him as the stars miraculously visible through the bright green planetary force-field that he had looked up at from time to time over the past two years.

Andros felt something shift toward the ground in his jacket pocket and he reached into it, pulling out the thin gold necklace that Ashley had given him before he left –the good-luck charm that had not kicked in just yet. Although, Zhane had survived the Var Ta D'nig fighting style that he had unconsciously used against him so maybe…

He quickly put it back into his pocket, not wanting to take the chance of losing it. Instead, he kept his hand in his pocket for a while as he gently rubbed the light chain between his fingers, thumbing the small square pendant that he had not noticed before.

Maybe things would be fine and the nightmare of Omni-8 would finally fade away once he told Zhane everything. Maybe the oracle would tell them that the rangers would triumph over Dark Specter and that all the homes and planets that he destroyed would stand again, that fighting the good fight was always worth it in the end.

Yeah… maybe.


	19. Chapter 19

Ch 19

Sadi sat at the head of the table, quietly eating her food and occasionally glancing up at the other rangers seated with her in the workbay. She had managed to ignore their icy stares for the past twenty-four hours, but now their angry eyes seemed to never leave her. But she _was_wearing Andros' Astroranger uniform, so their distaste for her was not surprising. And in spite of her explanation that wearing the Yellow Astroranger uniform would be _more_ disrespectful, they continued to stare angrily at her, something that had begun to annoy her.

"Is everything okay?" she asked innocently, lifting her head and feeling the rangers collectively get angrier.

"Why are you here?" Carlos asked, the sound of her voice diminishing what little desire he had for his meal. "We've been on the Megaship with Zhane for months without him ever mentioning you. Why are you here now? Were you waiting for Andros to get back?"

"Actually, I was," Sadi sighed softly. "And I'm here to protect you."

"From what?" Cassie asked.

"From Andros, of course," Sadi answered. "What else?"

"You're more of a monster than he could ever be," Ashley muttered, keeping her head down and her eyes on her food though she had no appetite for it.

"Actually," Sadi said, cutting her eyes sharply at Ashley. "If you would all stop ignoring the evidence, you'd see that Andros is the monster."

"There's no evidence that Andros –" T.J. began.

"You mean like the bloody dagger and the medallion that Darkonda left specifically for him the other day?" Sadi questioned. "The items that Andros refused to comment on one way or another… evidence like that? Or maybe you need something more concrete like the fact that he's attacked you guys at least once before and almost attacked some guy at your school –"

"How do you know that?" Ashley asked, looking up.

"I read it from you guys just now," Sadi replied with a sly smile. "And I happen to know that you're all just _dying_ to know whose blood was on that dagger."

"Andros' blood, I'm sure," Cassie said.

"Some of it," Sadi said, taking a bite of food. "But most of it belonged to someone else –a human, interestingly enough."

The rangers glanced at one another, hoping that they were not all thinking what Sadi was hinting at. Andros could never kill anyone, at least not a human being. But all the evidence seemed to point to just that, including his demeanor ever since his return to the ship.

'_I__'__ve__got__enough__blood__on__my__hands__'__,_ he had said when they asked him to lead. And then perhaps, he had not meant the blood of the previous Astrorangers but of the humans on Omni-8. Or even both.

"You won't turn us against him," Ashley said firmly, the first of the rangers to shake the negative thoughts away. "Andros would never –"

"I know for a fact that you only met Andros less than a week ago," Sadi said, rolling her eyes. "How is it that you're willing to defend what it is that he 'would never' do?"

Her question met with silence, Sadi returned her attention to her ever-cooling meal. "I've known Andros since he was a kid," she continued. "I know what he's capable of. It's that alien streak in him, I guess."

"What do you mean, 'alien'?" Cassie asked, crossing her arms. "Andros is a Karovan human."

"Of course he didn't tell you," Sadi said softly, shaking her head. "Andros is half-human, a Karovan- Abruxian half-breed. How did you not know this? …You know, 'siblings of mixed blood'?"

"'Siblings of mixed blood'?" Carlos repeated. "We're supposed to know what that means?"

"It's part of the prophecy," she replied. When she was met with blank stares, she let out a loud sigh. "'Siblings of mixed blood on the path of evil –blah, blah, blah –pure-blooded, Weapon of Ensendi… darkness forever –blah, blah –first in fifty years… blah, blah –the destruction of many worlds.'"

"Those 'blahs' sounded pretty important, don't you think?" Carlos asked.

"I'd have filled them in if I knew the rest of it," Sadi said with a shrug. "But the problem with 400-year-old prophecies is the ancient languages that they're written in. That was all that DECA could translate and even Miss I-speak-over-3,000-languages can't decide which translation is right."

"Well, why do you think that this prophecy is about Andros?" T.J. asked. "I'm sure that there must be other humans of mixed blood out there."

"Like you," Ashley said, narrowing her eyes at Sadi.

"The 'first in fifty years' part pretty much proves that it's Andros since he was the first Red Astroranger in fifty years… and he's definitely on a path of evil right now."

The room fell silent and no one was eating anymore, except for Sadi who brought bite after bite into her mouth as she let her words sink into their minds, unable to hide the smug grin on her face.

"Now do you understand why I'm here to protect you?" Sadi asked gently. "Andros isn't the same person that he was when I last saw him and even Zhane knows that, but the difference between me and him is that Zhane won't acknowledge it… He's Andros' best friend, so he can't look at things very objectively. He'll defend to the death every out-of-character thing that Andros does and is probably already keeping secrets from you guys."

"How are _you_ going to protect _us_?" Ashley asked. "We actually have our powers –"

"I can change that if you want," Sadi interrupted angrily. "Or if you'll let me, I can train you properly like Zhane should have done before Andros came. It's the only way that I can protect you… But if you want to pout and stare at me like I'm the enemy for the next couple of years, that's fine too."

Sadi pushed her food away and stood from her seat, calmly walking out of the workbay, a tiny smile on her face that she could not hide.

"I don't know how much of this I'll be able to take," Carlos said, letting out a breath. "She's up to something, I just know it."

"We _all_ know that," T.J. replied as the others nodded. "Maybe we should have left the Megaship until she let Andros and Zhane get their morphers back."

"Unless," Cassie began hesitantly. "Maybe she's telling the truth about protecting us."

"You can't possibly believe her?" Ashley exclaimed, turning to Cassie. "You're going to turn against Andros just like that?"

"Ashley," T.J. said with a sigh. "If this prophecy is real and Andros is at the center of it, we need to be careful, even if he isn't aware of what he's doing."

"And after the way he demolished those quantrons yesterday, there's no telling what else he's capable of," Carlos said. "Sadi seems to be trying to convince us that Andros may have killed someone… and maybe he really did."

"So Sadi wins already," Ashley said sadly. "She's already managed to get into your heads enough to make you question your own teammate."

Carlos rolled his eyes. "We've been questioning him since he got here," he said. "But you're missing the big picture here, Ash. If Andros is part of this prophecy then we have to look out for 'blah, blah –the destruction of many worlds'."

"And didn't Andros mention some powerful weapon before he left?" T.J. asked. "The one so powerful that the Phantom Ranger has to guard it?"

"And possibly the same weapon mentioned in the prophecy," Cassie said with a nod.

"If Sadi is really here to protect us, then why did she want Andros to go after a dangerous weapon like that?" Ashley asked.

"She might have been testing him to see if he would be willing to go after it," Carlos replied. "Or –"

"Andros already said that he wanted nothing to do with that weapon," Ashley interrupted.

"_Or_," Carlos continued, "Sadi wants _us_ to go after it so that she can get close enough to it to take it for herself. Either way, we have to watch our backs."

"I'm all for innocent until proven guilty, Ash," Cassie said gently, placing a hand on her shoulder. "But the longer he waits to tell us what happened to him, the less we'll be able to trust him… and he isn't making it easy to trust him."

"And if we find ourselves going after this weapon that might end the universe, we watch more than just our backs," T.J. said, getting up from the table. "We keep an eye on Andros _and_Sadi… maybe even Zhane until everyone decides to let us in on their little secrets."

He looked around at his teammates, none of them able to look him in the eye, even though they knew he was right. He let out a breath, knowing that the point had to be made again, for Ashley more than anyone else.

"The four of us have to stick together on this because… we can't trust them right now," he said softly. "Especially not with our lives."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

The question came out of nowhere.

Zhane had expected it to come the night before and was more than shocked to hear it in the last hours of their hike to the Aco Hills of Eltar. They had been walking all day together, not talking for longer than a few minutes at a time every five miles or so, and speaking of other things –the plight of their people and the Eltarians, the other planets affected by Dark Specter's attacks, and how terrible the rations tasted. But Andros' question had caught him so off-guard that he had actually stopped walking, knowing that they would be losing light soon.

Zhane turned to him after a while, unsure of how to answer, but knowing that further stalling would give Andros the answer he wanted to hear.

"What'd you say?" Zhane asked, pretending not to have heard him.

Andros looked to his feet, the words having come out easier without facing Zhane. "Should I… be a ranger?" he asked.

Zhane swallowed hard, still unable to find the right words. "I think that you… I don't want to –If you think that –"

"That's okay," Andros said, shaking his head. "I didn't really expect a straight answer from you anyway."

"I can't give you a straight answer to a complicated question," Zhane said, looking up at him. "You seem to be going through an awful lot right now… I don't want to say yes or no because neither one is right."

"You don't want to say yes or no because you want to give me the logical answers," Andros replied. "I want your opinion… Just tell me what you would do."

"You and I are two different people, Andros," Zhane said. "I can't tell you what to do. This isn't the type of thing that you get advice about because it's still going to be _your_ decision, regardless of what I say."

Andros walked past Zhane, shaking his head again. "Like I said, I didn't expect a straight answer from you," he muttered.

Zhane rolled his eyes, deciding that the truth was better than nothing. "Wait," he said, catching up to him and continuing when Andros turned to face him. "I think… No, I _don__'__t_ think that you should quit being a ranger. And… I know that if you had the opportunity to be with the Rebels, you 'd have still chosen to fight with us because … being a ranger isn't something that you can just give up on –it's in your blood forever."

Andros absorbed Zhane's words, still less than certain that Zhane had not chosen to give him the logical answer anyway.

"Was that sappy enough for you?" Zhane asked with a little smile. "Or do I have to throw in words like 'honor' and 'responsibility'?"

"I don't know," Andros said. "Maybe you should… You don't think that it's too dangerous for me to have my powers?"

"I don't think it matters whether you have your powers or not. You fight well enough without them, even if you're not in control all the time."

"Zhane…"

"I get what you mean," Zhane replied. "But we've lasted all night and day without you trying to kill me, so maybe you're getting better… But in all seriousness, if we figure out what the trigger is that makes you do that, I think we'll be okay."

"Do you even trust me?" Andros asked, his eyes back to the ground.

"Always," Zhane said. "You and I have been friends for years –"

"Which means nothing, Zhane!" Andros shouted exasperatedly. "Our friendship has nothing to do with trust, not when I'm fighting you and the other rangers. Now do you trust me or not?"

"I want to trust you," Zhane replied, his voice barely above a whisper. "You start spilling it about Omni-8 and we'll talk about trust then… But I'm still your friend and if that's all we have for now, I'll take it."

Andros nodded and turned back to the few miles left between them and the Aco Hills, a warm wind lightly blowing into his face as he began to walk, his eyes moistening with every step. Another hour passed before they finally approached their destination, the powder blue sky transforming into a beautiful violet and pink canvas.

Zhane glanced over at Andros, who removed a dark flower from his jacket as Zhane removed the dorig from his bag.

"You ready?" Zhane asked.

Andros nodded. "Did you think of a question?"

"Uhm… did you?"

"Zhane, you said that –"

"Look, we'll wing it," Zhane said, holding the box out from him and opening its lid. "Just get the oracle's gift ready."

A tiny light brightened at the base of the box and a small ball of white light rose from it.

"Why have I been called to Universe E-1.2?" a voice inquired from within the ball of light.

"Oracle Iides, we ask that you honor us with your presence," Zhane said, taking the flower from Andros. "We offer you a gift to express our gratitude for taking the time to speak with us."

"Are you aware of the energy that will be consumed from your universe upon leaving my own universe?" Iides asked.

"We accept all consequences," Zhane replied.

"Very well." The orb of light rose toward the sky, emanating long bright rays as though it had become the sun itself. As the rays rushed out of the orb, it suddenly burst and dissipated into tiny particles of light.

"So it is the Astrorangers who wish to meet with me," a woman's voice said from behind them.

Andros and Zhane's eyes left the lights and they turned to face the beautiful young-faced woman standing before them with a smile, her long red hair and green gown flowing behind her with a wind that was created by her very presence.

Zhane bowed to her. "We thank you, powerful oracle, for –"

"Please, Silver Ranger, you need not address me so formally," Iides replied. "You two are more than worthy of my presence… It's the dress, isn't it?"

In another bright flash of light, the oracle reappeared before them in a green Astroranger's uniform, her hair pulled back into a ponytail. "Much better," she said, though she noticed Andros frown.

"Why green?" he asked.

"I only allow one question, Red Ranger," she said. "Are you sure that you want to waste it?"

"Forget his question," Zhane replied before Andros could, holding out the flower to Iides. "Your gift, Iides."

"Thank you," she said, gently taking the flower from him and staring at it with awe. "The Eltarian Black Fetz is the most rare flower in your universe. It has been centuries since I've seen one. I feared that they would become extinct."

After a moment, she placed the flower into her hair and looked to the rangers. "Have you decided on your question?"

"Yes," Zhane replied. "We have a question about the prophecy concerning the Weapon of Ensendi."

"The prophecy of the first Red Astroranger in 50 of your years," Iides said with a nod.

"So, it _is_ about me," Andros said to himself.

"You wish to ask about a very complicated prophecy that has no complete translation. Was that your question, a translation of the prophecy?"

"No," Andros said and Zhane turned to him. "I want to ask you… "

Andros' words were ended by his racing thoughts as dozens of questions entered his mind. _Where__is__Karone__and__is__she__alive?__How__can__they__destroy__Dark__Specter?__Will__the__new__Astroranger__team__meet__the__same__end__as__the__others?__Will__he__ever__see__his__family__again?_

"Calm your mind, Red Ranger," Iides said softly. "Have the faith that I do that you will ask the right question."

Andros sighed. "Obviously this prophecy centers around the Weapon of Ensendi," he began. "But what can you tell us about it?"

"The Weapon of Ensendi is a great and powerful weapon –the most powerful weapon in your universe," Iides answered. "You will find that the weapon is associated with three planets –Kurakk, Orei, and KO-35. Once the weapon is activated, it acts as a beginning and an end –the word 'Ensendi' means 'creation' as well as 'destruction'. Many villains have gone after it in the past, most of them destroyed by simply being in its presence which is why the weapon was designed to be wielded by humans only. But the desire to wield its power is dangerous and it is not to be underestimated. Such desire will consume others and will ultimately result in your death."

"My death?" Andros repeated as the color drained from his face.

"The prophecy begins upon your death, I am sorry to say," Iides replied. "But you need not worry about it. Everything will fall into place thereafter."

"I… understand," Andros said softly, feeling the same tightness in his chest that he did whenever he held back tears.

He had already figured that he might die, but hearing it was much scarier. Now it really was not in his control anymore. He sighed, wondering how long he had left. Days? Weeks? Months? Slow and painful? Quick and painless?

"Your questions are many, Red Ranger," Iides said. "But I said that you need _not_ worry about the details of your death. Everything will be fine… just live your life as normal. Do not spend your life awaiting your death, live it well and let your friends into it."

Andros nodded, his mind still racing as he struggled to take in the oracle's words.

Iides sighed, shaking her head. "Before I depart, I was instructed to give you something," she said, leaning forward to lightly kiss his forehead.

"A kiss?" Andros asked.

"And your father's gift," Iides said with a smile, transforming into the orb of light before settling back into the dorig, its lid shutting immediately.

"No fair," Zhane said, putting the dorig back into his bag. "You get a kiss from Iides after all that sucking up _I_ did."

"What?" Andros asked, still somewhat dazed by the news of his impending death.

Zhane looked at the shaking fear in his friend's eyes, wishing that he would be able to bring words of comfort to him, but knowing that an oracle's words would trump his any day. "Try not to worry about this so much," he found himself saying instead and Andros looked up at him sadly.

"So what happens now?" Andros asked in a defeated voice.

"We sleep here for the night and you stop worrying about what the oracle said," Zhane said, placing a hand on Andros' shoulder. "Then I start thinking of a plan to get us onto the Megaship again."

"I'm going to die," Andros said softly, carefully sitting on the grass. "Why do I have to die?"

"Don't think about it, Andros. The oracle –"

"Shut up, Zhane!" Andros shouted, a few tears escaping from his eyes. "Let the oracle tell you that _you__'__re_ dying and see if you can stop thinking about it a few seconds after you find out! Just… leave me alone, okay?"

"Okay," Zhane said, watching as Andros reclined onto his back and closed his eyes, turning onto his side after a minute.

Zhane sat on the grass as well, taking a cue from the sky that it was time to rest for the night. But as the oracle's words played in his head over and over, he found that he could not sleep either and his own eyes slowly filled with tears.


	20. Chapter 20

_Ch 20_

_ Astronema's eyes fluttered open as her lungs filled with the cold, damp air of her surroundings, immediately sensing that she was no longer in her bedroom on the Dark Fortress._

_ She was not even on a ship anymore, she realized, as she stood up from the ground and brushed off the combination of moisture and gray dirt that had accumulated on her clothes. She shuddered a little as a chilly wind blew the hair away from her face, growing strong enough to move her toward a small, black, stone house._

_ As the elements pushed her to the flat clearing of more gray dirt upon which the house was founded, Astronema looked around her, more than familiar with the area as she began to take everything in. The house, the ground, and even the strange small creatures that glided over her head and disappeared into the multitude of dark clouds in the sienna sky –she remembered them all. This was Ecliptor's planet, Cenat, outside of the worn-down house that she had called home for the years before her real training began._

_ Finally, the wind stopped her a few feet from the dark, pyramidal house and Astronema smiled a little, glad to have at least a few clear memories of her past._

_ "I don't want to," Astronema heard a shrill child's voice shriek from behind the house._

_ Astronema peered around the side of the house, seeing Ecliptor in front of the entrance of his home, cupping a small bowl. In front of him stood a little girl, not older than four years old, attempting to push the monster away from the door to no avail._

_ "Let me in!" she screeched, giving little kicks to the very patient and statuesque Ecliptor as he held his ground and looked down at her._

_ "You cannot go inside until you eat something," Ecliptor said. "An entire day has passed since your last meal."_

_ "I don't want it!" the child yelled, pouting and crossing her arms as she finally gave up on trying to move Ecliptor._

_ "You must eat, Astronema," Ecliptor said, holding out the bowl to her again._

_ "My name is Karone!" she said, stamping her foot and swinging wildly at the bowl, nearly knocking it from Ecliptor's hands._

_ Astronema closed her eyes as the familiar name flowed into her thoughts. That was the name that was always in her dreams; it was the name of the person that she used to be. Not once in her memories had her name been spoken above a whisper, but now as she heard herself say it aloud, it seemed more real than any memory she had ever had._

_Ecliptor sighed and placed the bowl down on the ground next to the door, staying at the girl's level for a moment._

_Astronema watched as the girl's eyes widened in fear and she took two steps back from him, unable to hide behind her golden hair as the wind blew it away from her face and behind her shoulders._

"_It's gets very cold out here during the night," Ecliptor said calmly. "It is already much colder than usual and you will not be able to go inside until you eat something."_

_Karone eyed Ecliptor carefully for a while, glancing from him to the bowl and back again. With a sigh, she sat on the ground and lifted the bowl to her lips and took a sip of the cold broth in the bowl, her eyes filling with tears as she set it back to the ground._

"_I want to go home," she said sadly. "You said you were taking me home."_

"_That isn't what I said," Ecliptor replied, meeting her sad brown eyes. "I told you that you are not a prisoner. That means that I have no intention of harming you, Astronema."_

"_My name is Karone, Ecliptor," she said. "Why won't you call me Karone?"_

"_This is your new home and you need a new name," Ecliptor explained. "Astronema is the name given to you by Dark Specter."_

"_Oh," Karone replied, lowering her head. "I like my old home… and my old name."_

"_I can't safely return you to your home on KO-35 and I can't call you Karone," he continued. "But it is obvious that you are not ready for your new name just yet… If you would rather that I call you something else until you are ready, I will."_

"_My daddy used to call me his princess," she said softly._

"_Then, finish your meal quickly… my Princess," Ecliptor said, before turning to the door and leaving her outside._

_Karone looked down into her bowl before taking another sip of her broth, the sadness on her face fading slowly. _

_The sky began to dim and Astronema turned from the girl and the memory that had managed to escape her for years. She remembered that she had begged to go home for weeks before she finally began to accept Ecliptor as her guardian and trainer, and eventually, as her father. But after all the things that he had kept from her, the words that may as well have been lies, what was he to her now?_

"_You forgot something," Astronema heard the girl say softly, turning around to find Karone staring back at her._

_Astronema furrowed her brow in confusion, walking closer to the house as she watched her younger self suddenly focus on something below her feet. It was something below the dirt, she determined, as Karone began digging for it._

"I_didn__'__t__forget,__" __Karone__said,__scraping__at__the__hard,__dry__earth__with__her__tiny__fingernails__until__her__fingertips__made__contact__with__the__moist__dirt__beneath__it._

_Astronema stood over the girl, gazing into the small shallow hole that was created and zeroing in on the little grey box that was slowly uncovered._

"_You forgot," Karone said, taking out the box and sitting it on her lap. "Mommy's in here, remember?"_

"_What?"Astronema inquired as the box suddenly opened and a bright flash from it immersed everything in a red light._

-0-0-0-0-0-

"Astronema?" Ecliptor's voice called softly into her bedroom.

It had taken hours for Astronema to get comfortable enough to go to sleep, so she could not hide her frustration with Ecliptor for having woken her up after what had felt like minutes of sleep. Of course, she had briefly forgotten that Ecliptor had even been gone and had only followed her orders to inform her of his return. But in her current state, she could barely remember where she was now as she struggled to hold onto the remnants of her dream. But she waited patiently for Ecliptor to relate to her the details of his defeat by the Silver Ranger, not entirely surprised that Ecliptor had been defeated, though she had hoped to hear more of the Red Ranger's progress.

"Did the Red Ranger fight at all?" she asked, finally perking up a bit.

"Only with the quantrons," Ecliptor said with a nod. "It seems as though the Cromians were successful with their implant after all. Never have I heard of any ranger fighting with such blatant brutality."

"Perfect," Astronema replied with a smile. "Now, all he has to do now is get the Weapon of Ensendi."

"But the other rangers won't go after the Weapon of Ensendi," Darkonda's voice said from the darkness outside of her doorway.

Astronema's eyes opened wider as he walked into her room and she shook herself completely awake, at full alert around Darkonda. "What makes you say that?" she asked him.

"Earlier, the rangers discussed the prophecy at length and decided that going after it might be too risky," he replied. "They've decided that the Red Ranger cannot be trusted enough to lead them to the weapon. They won't go after it without some encouragement."

"What kind of encouragement?" Astronema inquired.

"The rangers have no reason to go after the weapon," Darkonda explained. "They will only take preventative measures if they think that the weapon is in danger."

Astronema smiled slyly. "They need to know that _we_ want it before they'll try to get it," she concluded. "But will you be able to convince them of that?"

Darkonda laughed, patting the small bag strapped to his waist. "I still have three items left," he said. "I can attack the rangers and leave another plant…"

"Which will be more than enough to get the rangers' attentions," Astronema finished. "They'll go after the weapon if only to be sure that _you_ won't get to it first…Attack the rangers as planned, Darkonda. Word will reach the Red and Silver Rangers within the next day or so and then the Demon Sword of Kurakk will soon be mine."

With a bow, Darkonda backed out of Astronema's bedroom and disappeared into the darkness as Astronema sat down on her bed, wondering if sleep was possible now. She looked up at Ecliptor, unsettled by his silence upon Darkonda's entrance.

"Is something wrong, Ecliptor?" she asked as he lingered by her doorway.

Ecliptor turned his head to her briefly, though he was unable to make eye contact. "It's nothing," he said. "I'm sorry that I failed you on Eltar."

"You accomplished the mission, Ecliptor," Astronema said. "We have the Red Ranger right where we need him. It's only a matter of time before he destroys the other rangers."

"Yes," Ecliptor said distantly with a nod.

Astronema sighed softly and briefly closed her eyes, remembering the frayed edges of her dream.

"Ecliptor, can I ask you something?" she asked, trying recall it in its entirety.

"Of course," he answered.

"Do you remember anything about Cenat, I mean, before my training began?" she inquired softly.

"I do," Ecliptor said carefully, still unable to meet her eyes.

"I remembered something," she began slowly. "I had found something in the ground behind your house… a gray box with a bright red light inside."

Ecliptor sighed a little but nodded. "Yes," he muttered.

"What was it?" she asked.

"It was the Cenatian dorig," Ecliptor answered, not feeling up to lying to his princess for the moment.

"An oracle?" Astronema inquired.

Ecliptor replied with another nod. "You uncovered the dorig that had been placed under my guardianship several times, opening it to speak with the human voice that came from the red light –the oracle called Marmie."

"Marmie," Astronema repeated to herself, recalling the words of her younger self in her dream. "I thought that it was dangerous to bring oracles to this universe."

"Technically, the oracle was never brought to this universe," Ecliptor explained. "You were seeking companionship rather than answers, something that the oracles respond well to."

"Do you still possess the dorig?" Astronema asked, the wheels beginning to turn in her head as she wondered what she could ask the oracle that she did not already know. After all, she was well aware of her strengths, was unable to find any weaknesses, and knew that she would be the Queen of Evil soon enough. What else could she ask about?

"The Cenatian dorig was returned to its temple prior to your training," he replied. "I determined that you had grown too dependent on it and it was only a matter of time before you actually called her to our world."

But the wheels were still turning as Astronema began pacing across her floor, a plan already in the works. "So they will speak as long as the intentions are pure…"

"No," Ecliptor replied. "They speak to any _child_ whose intentions are pure."

"Pure," Astronema repeated again, knowing that the word fit in somewhere important. "Pure… or pure-_blooded_."

"You think that the dorigs may be related to the prophecy?"

"I do now," she said with a smile. "Dorigs and the pure-blooded…And I know exactly how to test out my new theory, but one thing at a time, Ecliptor… One thing at a time."

-0-0-0-0-0-

_ Will ultimately result in your death…_

Andros tossed and turned as the Oracle's words entered his thoughts again for the thousandth time that night as it had for the past three nights since she had spoken to him. He shut his eyes tightly as he attempted to block them out, but to no avail.

In those three days, he had not had a decent night's sleep for longer than a few minutes at a time before his dreams were tainted by Iides's words. He often woke with his heart racing and his body drenched in sweat from the ruthless nightmares that haunted him throughout the night. And the hour or so that it took to relax enough to sleep was always accompanied by the fear that he might sleepwalk again.

And then there were the voices, the whispers that seemed to surround him on all sides as he lay dormant on the ground, most of them nonsensical mutterings in his own voice. He would look to Zhane when they began, wondering if Zhane could confirm that he was actually talking to himself, but Zhane always slept soundly a few feet away and so there was no evidence of from where the voices came.

_"__Andros__… __Stay__with__us__… __Please,__wake__up__…"_

This voice was new, surprisingly audible and coherent and not his own. It was a woman's voice, haunting as she almost begged him to stay with her.

But he opened his eyes, hoping that the voice would fade along with the other voices that were steadily flowing through his mind. He glanced over at Zhane, who stirred briefly in his sleep before letting out a light snore.

After a while, Andros let out a breath and closed his eyes again, the distracting voices seemingly gone.

"_Watch out, Aeden!" he heard Zhane exclaim suddenly as several quantrons ran toward his friend with raised weapons._

_Andros looked around, confirming his surroundings. He was on Dark Specter's ship, and not for the first time that night._

_ Aeden looked over his shoulder, carefully placing Lyell on the ground as he avoided contact with their weapons._

_ Andros watched helplessly as Aeden and Zhane fought against the quantrons, knowing that he was dreaming again and that no matter what he did in it, he would have to watch his brother die over and over as he had every time he dreamt of it. He looked over to Zhane, who he knew would soon say –_

_ "Be careful, Andros. They're coming right at you." Right on time._

_ Andros looked back, where he knew that five quantrons would be coming right at him. They were and he tried to shake himself awake, knowing what had to happen next. But he remained in the dream, finally making an attempt to block their attack. Just as it had been two years and several nightmares ago, there was nothing that could stop them all and there was always the one that got past him to the true target –his brother._

_ Andros tried and failed to scream out his brother's name to warn him, ultimately unable to speak at all. This time a shock went through his body as it had on Omni-8 and he fell to his knees. Even in pain, he was unable to cry aloud and his whimpers were only heard inside his own mind._

_ So all he could do was watch as Aeden looked over his shoulder again as the quantron's weapon came down hard on him, knocking him to the ground with a groan. Zhane ran to him, distracted by the swarm of quantrons that eventually pulled him back and held him down. Andros looked away from them and down the corridor as he eyed the dark shadow that made its way toward them, a shiver running down his spine even knowing what it was._

_ He heard the laughter before he saw him, attempting to stand and more than ready to face him this time. But the laughter suddenly changed and he realized that even in reality it had always changed. It always began as Darkonda's laugh, slowly becoming Dark Specter's after a few seconds. _

_But it was always Dark Specter that approached them and grabbed up Aeden by the throat with his massive hand, slowly suffocating him. There was almost a pleasure in the monster's eyes as the pain on Aeden's face escalated and his groans of pain became gasps and screams._

Next, comes the blood_,__Andros__thought__as__he__struggled__to__free__himself__from__the__ground.__His__eyes__never__left__his__brother,__unable__to__turn__away__from__the__blood__that__had__begun__to__drip__from__his__nose__and__mouth__as__Dark__Specter__'__s__grip__on__him__became__tighter__and__tighter.__Andros__struggled__to__move__as__Dark__Specter__grew__weary__of__his__brother__and__tossed__him__carelessly__aside,__his__hand__moving__toward__him__next._

"_Andros!" Zhane cried out, struggling against the quantrons. "Andros!"_

_Andros continued to move his legs, failing again and looking to Dark Specter, whose hand had become a tightly closed fist that was now hovering over his head. The pain would be real enough if he did not wake up right away and his heart raced in anticipation, hoping that he would awaken before the fist fell this time. Last time, he thought that he might die after the fist was lifted from his body and Dark Specter threw Andros against the cold, hard walls of the ship._

_But it came down now and Andros shut his eyes tightly, begging himself to wake up. The fist was closer to him. Not begging anymore, yelling to wake up. Dark Specter's laughter echoed, mixed in with Darkonda's, loud and menacing as always as the fist was even closer now. Screaming himself awake now…_

Andros finally opened his eyes and sat up as he tried to catch his breath. Even knowing that it was a dream did not seem to take away the intensity of it. As usual, he was drenched in sweat and shaking a bit, looking over at Zhane and hoping that he did not wake him.

But Zhane was not there and he looked around him, praying that he had not attacked Zhane again.

"Andros," he heard softly from behind him. Zhane walked up to Andros and sat down beside him, handing him a ration.

Andros took it autonomously, but he was not very hungry now as he continued to control his breathing.

"You were talking this time," Zhane said. "Then you started yelling for Aeden… You haven't done that in a while."

Andros said nothing as his heartbeat returned to normal and he ran his fingers through his hair with a sigh.

"Andros, you have to stop thinking about it," Zhane said with a sigh of his own. "The Oracle told you not to worry about …"

"My death," Andros finished, meeting Zhane's eyes. "I can't just forget like that… it isn't as easy as she or you seem to think."

"Just focus on something else," Zhane replied. "If you obsess about it, the stress of it might kill you if nothing else does. You can't be afraid to live the rest of your life."

"What if there _is_ no 'rest of my life'?" he asked sadly. "What if this moment is it? Or what if –"

"What if you die in the middle of my question, Andros?" Zhane said. "What if you die in three minutes or three days or three years from this moment? Our lives have always been 'what ifs,' Andros. Nothing has really changed."

"How can you say that?"

"How can you say _that_?" Zhane exclaimed. "You were cutting yourself a few days ago and trying to kill yourself a couple of years ago, but now you're scared to die… Do you not find that strange? Do you not get how dumb that sounds?"

"I…It's not…" Andros stammered. "Before…"

"Before, your death was under your control," Zhane finished. "Now you have no say-so over when you'll die and you can't handle it… Is that really it? Is that why you can't accept this?"

"Why is that so unbelievable?" Andros asked, looking down at his feet. "Don't I usually obsess over things I can't control?"

"Well… yeah, you do," Zhane replied, looking over at him and seeing that he was hiding a tiny smile. "But you must be feeling better if you're trying one of your terrible attempts at jokes."

"I guess I am," Andros replied, lifting his head. "As much as I hate to say so, you're right… I think that I'm more focused on the fact that I can't control my death than the fact that I'm going to die. But I'm not really sure how to get… used to it, I guess."

"You are going to die," Zhane said firmly, looking Andros in the eye. "But we all will at some point in our lives. Just live like you would any other day. Don't treat every day as though it's your last."

"You mean, treat every day like it's the last?" Andros inquired.

"Under normal circumstances, yes," Zhane said. "But what would you do on your very last day of living if you knew when it was going to happen? I'll tell you what you'd do. You would lie around in bed all day, not wanting to see anyone and not wanting to go anywhere. In short, you would waste it."

Andros shrugged, but nodded his head slowly.

"But I think you should ask Sadi where the Rebels are and visit with everyone," Zhane said. "That's what I would do."

"You'd spend time with my mother," Andros said with a smile.

"Yes," Zhane replied wistfully. "She and I would have the best last day together… I would absolutely –"

"Choose your words very carefully," Andros said, his smile beginning to fade as Zhane grinned.

"I would absolutely… never forget that day," Zhane said hesitantly. "And neither would she," he added just as Andros relaxed a bit.

"You're disgusting," Andros said, shaking his head. But his smile was back and his mind was surprisingly clear except for one thing that he just could not let go. "Zhane?"

"Yeah?"

"What do you think happens when you die?"

"Well, when _I_die, I'll be encased in gold and allowed to orbit KO-35 until –"

"That's not what I meant," he said.

"I know what you meant," Zhane nodded. "But no one knows… But I guess that I believe… that whatever you hope will happen… will happen."

"Like what?"

"I told you that I hope that I'm encased in –"

"_Zhane_," Andros whined.

"I hope that when I die… I'll hear music," he said, propping an elbow on his leg and resting his head in his hand. "And I want to close my eyes and let the music be the last thing I hear. But I don't want anything depressing. I want to die with a smile on my face."

"That doesn't sound so bad," Andros said, relaxing a little more.

It was silent for a while as the darkness of early morning disappeared and the bright colors of the impending sunrise painted the sky. As they watched the dark blues in the sky become overrun with yellows, oranges, and reds, the likes of which they had never seen before, Andros sighed softly and smiled to himself.

_Don__'__t__treat__every__day__like__it__'__s__your__last_, he thought, looking up at the sky and appreciating the beauty in it for the first time in years.

And in that beauty, he thought he detected a hint of acceptance.


	21. Chapter 21

Ch 21

"What is _wrong_ with you guys?" Sadi asked in frustration, looking around the Simudeck at the other rangers in disgust. "None of these Craterites should still be standing! You guys are fighting on a level 10 training course –Astrorangers are supposed to fight on a level 16 by the end of their first six months. How long have you guys been rangers?"

Ashley glared at Sadi briefly, knocking down the Craterites in front of her with a single side kick, running over to T.J. to help him dispatch of the six Craterites that surrounded him.

"Stop simulation," Sadi called out just as Ashley reached him. "Ashley, what are you doing?"

"There's this thing called teamwork –" Ashley began, placing her hands on her hips.

"T.J. is a big boy," Sadi interrupted with a sigh. "In fact, he used to be a leader. Why would you assume that he needed your help?"

"Teamwork has always been an important attribute of the Power Rangers," T.J. replied.

"Which is why you're all as weak as you are," Sadi said. "Working as a team is great and everything, but how can you expect to tap into your powers as long as you guys baby each other all the time?"

Carlos let out a breath before walking up to Sadi a little, stopping just a few feet in front of her. "We've been doing this for months now and as you can see, we're still alive. That means that we're doing something right, doesn't it? Why can't you just let us fight our own way?"

Sadi folded her arms and rolled her eyes, taking a few steps toward him. "If Andros has ever seen you fight, he knows how to counter all your moves by now… I know _I_ do –_all_ of you… You guys can be better than what you're showing me and I won't go any easier on you until you _show_ me that you can be better."

Carlos shook his head a little and sighed again as T.J. tossed him and everyone else a towel before using his own to wipe the sweat from his face.

"I'm not doing this to be mean," Sadi began, watching as the others avoided her eyes while exchanging glances with each other. "But when I had my morpher, I was ten times faster than you Ashley… And T.J., you tap into one of your highest speeds when you do a spinning Astro Axe attack. Did you know that you can stay at that speed for at least ten minutes after you use that move?"

T.J. shook his head as he continued to wipe away the sweat from his face. "Zhane told me that staying at that speed for too long could weaken me physically and drain my morpher."

"That's why I said that you can do it for ten minutes," Sadi replied. "No one said for you to go overboard with it… And Cassie, your Satellite Stunner can be used for so many other things. Forget locating monsters at close range and the attack of energy rings. Did you know that at least three rings can leave your weapon at one time?"

"Yeah, so?" Cassie said.

"So, did you also know that your morpher can open each of those rings and wrap them around your enemies _and_ that you can send those rings in three different directions?"

Cassie shook her head as the concept entered her thoughts. "No, I guess I didn't," she replied softly.

"And I'll bet that you didn't know that your Lunar Lance can extend and retract during attacks, right?" Sadi asked Carlos who shook his head. "In booster mode, your Lunar Lance's extension determines the power behind its blast."

Ashley looked up as Sadi's eyes finally landed on her, a chill running down her spine as the anger welled up within her.

"And Ashley," Sadi began. "The energy that shoots out from your Star Slinger can grow to the size of boulders if you learn how to concentrate."

"Well, it's hard to concentrate on anything when you have us practicing six hours a day after school," Ashley muttered.

"If you guys were any good at what you did, I might go easier on you," Sadi replied, folding her arms.

Ashley shook her head with a sigh and walked past Sadi toward the doorway.

"I didn't say you guys were finished," Sadi called after her.

"We're finished," Carlos said firmly, following Ashley away from the Simudeck with the others in tow.

"You guys can be better than you are," Sadi said from behind them. "I'm not as accepting of sloppy fighting as Zhane and Andros were."

"We're _done_ for the day, Sadi," T.J. replied as the rangers boarded the Megalift. "We'll work on those moves you talked about tomorrow. But right now, we're kind of exhausted."

"Fine, then," Sadi said, walking toward them slowly. "But if the rangers before you could do all those things I told you about and still died, what do you think your future looks like?"

"We said that we'll work on it tomorrow," Cassie said. "But sleep is a must right now."

"Yeah, for your schooling tomorrow," Sadi said rolling her eyes. "I don't know why you guys don't –"

Sadi looked up at DECA's red light as a loud alarm sounded. "I don't miss that sound," she said, shaking her head before turning back to the rangers. "But it looks like you'll get more training in after all," she added.

-0-0-0-0-

As usual, Angel Grove was in a frenzy as the rangers arrived on the scene. Darkonda was waiting impatiently for them, firing his laser eyes at anything that moved around him. Surprisingly, he aimed just above heads or in front of feet, trying to scare the panicking humans more than anything else.

By the time the rangers reached him, Darkonda had distracted himself enough for the rangers to launch a sneak attack. They quickly withdrew their weapons as they came upon him, attaching their weapons to their lasers in booster mode, hoping that it would work just enough to weaken him. They were way too tired to fight Darkonda for an extended amount of time and they had failed to cause him much physical damage during the last times they had fought him.

They finally fired, their blasts landing on him as he sensed the rangers and turned to face them. The barrage of energy resulted in a stumble forward, but not a fall and the rangers silently cursed, knowing that more effort was less than possible with their energy levels at an all-time low.

"Give it up, rangers," Darkonda said as he regained his footing and the rangers took defensive stances in front of him. "I can't be destroyed that easily."

Out of nowhere, a large group of quantrons appeared in front of Darkonda, charging at the rangers. Darkonda grumbled a little, more disappointed by the fact that Astronema seemed adamant that he would not fight the rangers as long as the Red and Silver Rangers would not be joining the fight.

Not surprisingly, the rangers found themselves more than at the mercy of the quantrons after a few minutes. No thanks to Sadi's daily regimen of training and torture, they were too tired even to keep up with the second-rate minions. Darkonda's laughter at their struggle only served as a distraction as the rangers fell to the mediocre might of the quantrons.

Once the rangers had enough or maybe once Darkonda and the quantrons tired of the rangers, the rangers stood to find themselves no longer surrounded by Darkonda or the quantrons with a small bag on the ground in their place.

T.J. slowly walked over to the bag, ignoring the pain in his side as he bent over to pick it up.

"Another present for Andros?" Carlos inquired, clutching his stomach in pain.

"It wouldn't surprise me," T.J. answered with a nod. "Let's get back to the ship."

The rangers stood side-by-side, pressing the buttons on their morpher to teleport them back to the ship. But even that energy seemed to be drained now and they were able to see the ship as they approached it.

-0-0-0-0-0-

"You failed to capture him again?" Sadi asked, rolling her eyes. "This is why you all need to practice."

"It was _your_ training sessions that did it," Ashley said, wishing that she could have had at least a good five minutes to herself before being immediately berated by Sadi from the Megalift to the bridge.

"Yeah," Carlos said. "You can't expect us to fight after seven hours of school and three hours of training."

"I never had a problem doing it and I trained up to twelve hours a day," Sadi said with a shrug, eyeing the small bag in T.J.'s hand. "What's that?"

T.J. looked down at his hand and turned the bag upside down over a console. Out of it gently rolled a silver ring, a rectangular piece of blue metal, and a rock.

The rangers glanced at one another before finally looking to Sadi who stood staring at the objects with a frown. Her eyes were glazed over as she moved toward the objects and carefully picked each item up and studied them one by one.

"What are they?" T.J. finally asked.

"Did that monster say that these were meant for Andros?" Sadi asked instead.

"Not exactly," Ashley answered. "Why?"

"I only recognize two of these things," Sadi replied with a sigh. "The blue, um, I think you call them dog-tags on Earth, belonged to Fuso, the Blue Astroranger."

"How can you be sure?" Carlos asked. "Something like that could have been replicated… you know, to play with Andros' mind."

"Not this," Sadi said, shaking her head. "Fuso's name isn't on it, but he etched 'SILU' into it, the Karovan word for 'honor'. Besides, how many dog-tags do you find that are made of blue palladium?"

Sadi picked up the green glittering rock and turned it over in her hands, not quite satisfied with her initial look at it. "I'm not one hundred percent on this, but I think that this was Jishai's, the Black Astroranger."

"It's a rock," Cassie said. "How can you distinguish between Jishai's rock and any other?"

"It's not just any rock," Sadi explained. "Jishai's rock was priceless, worth quite a bit in the Universal Trade. It's all that's left of one of the oldest hypergiant stars in the Karova star system. That star was made up of priceless material and when it collapsed, Jishai found a piece of it stuck in one of the Astro Megaship's thrusters."

"So, you don't recognize the ring at all?" Ashley asked.

"No," Sadi said, placing the rock down and picking the ring up, staring into the bright red solitary gem in its center. "But I'll bet that Andros would… It's too bad that we can't ask him."

"We could've if you had let him keep his communicator," Ashley said.

"Not an option," Sadi said with a smile. "And you still just can't accept that he's not coming back… But if I were you, I'd start imagining a world without the Red Astroranger because he won't be back for a while."

Ashley frowned, but decided it best not to stare Sadi down. She had gotten away with it a few times now, but it was only a matter of time before Sadi decided to take her morpher away from her again. So, she nodded instead and followed the others from the bridge silently.

"Oh, and Cassie," Sadi began as she followed the rangers toward the Megalift. "It's your turn to stay on the bridge tonight."

"I did it last night," Cassie protested, trying not to whine.

"Well, you won't have to do it anymore this week if you can stay awake this time," Sadi said. "DECA's scanners are set to search for Zordon and we need manual scans of the area at short-range to make sure that we aren't being followed."

Cassie let out a breath as she watched the others disappear behind the Megalift's doors before walking back to the bridge and sitting down at a console.

She might have stayed awake last night if Sadi had not insisted that they train on the Simudeck for an extra two hours that day, she could not help thinking as she began a manual scan of the immediate area. And she was sure that tonight would be no different as she rested her head in her hands, just barely able to keep her eyes open using her own free will.

Cassie stared down at the small screen, almost tuning out the soft intermittent beeps that came from the console as it identified a small round object floating close to the ship.

"DECA, what _is_ that?" she asked as an image of the thin disc appeared on the main viewing screen.

"Unidentified object not determined to be an immediate threat," DECA informed.

"Can you teleport it onto the ship?" Cassie asked, wondering if she could be so cruel as to call the others back to see it.

"Teleporting now," DECA replied.

Cassie watched as the object disappeared from the viewing screen and reappeared in front of her. She remained sitting in her chair, cautiously approaching the small silver disk-shaped technology that whirred and beeped in quick, low tones. She finally got up the courage to touch it, prodding it quickly a few times to test its temperature and its reaction to her touch. When it failed to do anything especially exciting, she picked it up and began to examine it, finding only a large red button on its underside that stood out from the miniscule buttons and switches that surrounded it. She took in a deep breath before lightly pressing the red button.

"You pressed the red button," a familiar voice said softly before the object floated from her hands and a screen emanated from it. Cassie smiled as the image on the screen cleared and the Phantom Ranger appeared on it. "You should never press the red button," he said.

"I wouldn't be me if I didn't take a chance on the red button every once in a while," Cassie replied, unable to hide her smile as she smoothed her hair down as subtly as possible. "So… you spying on us or something?"

"Not exactly," he answered hesitantly. "I don't have access to the ship, but I _have_ learned something in the time that I've been monitoring your whereabouts."

"Still sounds like spying to me," Cassie said teasingly.

"I suppose that it is," he admitted. "I'm monitoring the ship because Sadi can't be trusted. The fact that she was able to gain access to the ship at all is a little suspicious. But I can't seem to figure out how she did it."

"If Andros and Zhane did something to make her lose her morpher, then why is it suspicious that she used that excuse to get it back?"

"Because it didn't work two years ago," he replied. "The A.D.A. Galactic Force already had enough evidence to put Andros away for a long time and they didn't."

"What did he do?" Cassie asked.

"Andros put someone in the hospital for a while… but I'm sorry to admit that I don't blame him for what he did at all."

"I'm a bit surprised to hear you say that," Cassie said softly. "You've never supported that side of justice before."

"I usually don't condone any type of violence against humans, but after Andros told me what was said… and what was done," he began, his voice shaking a bit. "I could only be glad that I wasn't there with them."

"So what is it that you think Sadi did?" Cassie asked, changing the subject. "Do you think that we're in any immediate danger?"

"Well, she must have a reason beyond revenge to take charge of the Astro Megaship without taking her morpher back," Phantom Ranger said. "And now all of a sudden, I'm guarding a sword that has gone unguarded for the past one hundred fifty years. It seems a bit strange, doesn't it?"

"Well, of course it does," she said. "But if you don't have access to the inside, what is it you're hoping to find out?"

"Well, I'd like to know why the Dark Fortress has been tailing you since Sadi took over," he said. "And I'm also curious as to why Astronema has been uncharacteristically quiet this week."

"I wish," Cassie said. "Darkonda just attacked us today and left more mementos for Andros. He works for Astronema, right?"

"Yes," Phantom Ranger said. "And that's strange too… maybe stranger than anything else."

"You've fought against Darkonda?"

"A few times in the past," he answered. "It was a great training experience but it nearly killed me… Please be careful when fighting against Darkonda."

"We don't have much of a choice," Cassie said with a sigh. "So what should we do about Astronema?"

"Nothing yet," Phantom Ranger said. "But I can't help but wonder why I could detect her when DECA is scanning long range areas and you're scanning short-range…"

"Sadi messed with DECA's programming," Cassie said, catching up. "You think Sadi and Astronema are working together?"

"That's my belief," he said with a nod. "The theory so far is that she wants to trick you into going to Kurakk for the weapon in the prophecy. Has she mentioned it yet?"

"She has," Cassie said. "And she's trying to convince us that Andros –"

"Killed someone?" Phantom Ranger finished. "I'm looking into that too. But don't worry about Sadi too much, Cassie. I'll have Andros and Zhane back on the ship by next week… if that turns out to be the safe thing to do."

"What are you going to do?"

"Research," he answered. "Until then, go along with Sadi's orders for a while. I promise to contact you soon."

"Phantom Ranger?" Cassie asked, just as he reached forward to disconnect them.

"Yes, Cassie?"

Cassie hesitated, blushing a bit as the question that had been burning her lips since the first moment that he spoke her name repeated itself over and over in her head.

"Well… it's just that…how long do you want me to keep calling you Phantom Ranger?" she asked uncomfortably. "I mean, we've known each other for at least a year…"

"You wish to know my face," he concluded almost sadly.

"I wish to know your name," she corrected him. "But a face to go with it would be nice too."

Phantom Ranger let out a sigh, reaching over to disconnect them. "I'm called Esson," he said softly. "But showing my face will have to wait until I've completed my research and I can see you."

The screen instantly blacked out and Cassie sat in her seat, holding the disk-like object in her hands with a content smile on her face.

"Esson," she sighed happily, setting it on the floor by her feet until she could finally leave the bridge in another two hours and take it with her to her room. She wondered how pathetic it would be if she were to give the screen a goodnight kiss and decided against it, lest DECA record her actions and be persuaded to tell the others.

But her smile never faded as she finally left the bridge and walked slowly down the corridor to her bedroom.

"Esson," she said softly to herself before her eyes closed and she allowed her mind to drift off to the only place that she and the Phantom Ranger were always alone and happy together.


	22. Chapter 22

Ch 22

"I'm sorry," Andros said again for the third time as he helped Zhane get back onto his feet.

"Stop apologizing," Zhane said firmly, dusting off his clothes with his hand. "I know that it's not in your control and I don't think you broke anything."

Zhane walked over to the river that they had been traveling beside for the past four days to check his reflection. They had agreed to continue forward, beyond the Aco Hills and to no place in particular, hoping to find something to do. After all, they had gone there to help restore the lost homes of Eltar and had not done much of anything since their arrival. It seemed that many of the people that they encountered did not want or need any help that they could give. The people there needed something that the rangers were both starting to lack after just one week of wandering around on Eltar –hope.

The Oracle's words had managed to be pushed into the further reaches of Andros' mind but his stress remained as long as he was anywhere but on the Astro Megaship. Thoughts that he would not live to see it again no longer plagued him, nor did he worry much about the prophecy or what it might mean. His role in it was made fairly clear and he was more than ready to accept that. But his mind often drifted to Sadi and what she might be telling the other rangers. He had divulged more information to her than he had meant to when he had spoken to her and now instead of blackmailing him, she threw it back at him for petty revenge.

The nightmares and sleepwalking had finally stopped, but the attacks had quickly escalated from once a day to three times a day and once at night. Fortunately for Andros, no one had been hurt, other than Zhane. But even Zhane could be glad that Andros was not hurting anyone else, though he often tried to figure out why he always seemed to be the target. But he was afraid to know the answer and did not want to risk another attack by asking.

Zhane splashed some of the cool river water onto his face and sighed as the thought crossed his mind again. He glanced back at Andros, who stood a few feet away, looking down at his feet.

"I'm sorry," Andros said again.

"Stop saying that," Zhane said, rolling his eyes. "Being sorry doesn't solve anything. What'll help is if we know what's causing it."

"Um," Andros replied, pointing at the scar on his forehead.

"Well, yeah," Zhane nodded. "But we can't exactly do major brain surgery on you anytime soon, if at all. So there has to be a way to deactivate it. Every program has a fail-safe."

"Not necessarily," Andros said. "A fail-safe is only necessary if you care about the thing that the program is attached to. You add a fail-safe to a computer program to keep from losing valuable information."

"Yeah, but you also add fail-safes to droids who might turn on their creators," Zhane pointed out. "They could have killed you at any time while you were there. And from what I've seen, you could have handed it right back to them… But it didn't happen that way which means that they counted on you making it out of there alive."

Andros sat down by the edge of the river, watching the water flow downstream with a sigh. He finally looked up at Zhane, who sat down beside him after a moment. "Don't say it," Andros said, looking away from him with another sigh.

"What?" Zhane asked, though he was well aware.

"I don't want to talk about Omni-8," he replied.

"We can't keep ignoring this, Andros," Zhane said quietly. "If you tell me what you remember from Omni-8, then maybe… I don't know. Maybe we can think of something."

Andros shook his head. "I can't," he said, his voice just barely audible. "I want to… but I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because this isn't something that I can take back," Andros said. "After I tell you, it'll be out there… and you won't trust me anymore."

"I already don't trust you anymore," Zhane admitted sadly, lowering his eyes when Andros turned to look at him. "I can't sleep at night for fear that you might try to kill me and I feel like I can't talk to you about anything because I'm worried that I might say something to trigger another attack. And there's nothing similar about any of the attacks except that I'm the one that you're attacking. I can't pinpoint any word or thought or feeling that either of us could have had or said aloud that might be the trigger."

"I'm not doing this on purpose," Andros replied in frustration. "You think that I _want_ to keep things from you? You're my best friend, Zhane…"

"I know that… but you're not doing much of anything about it," Zhane said, nearly yelling. "I mean, what are you waiting for to happen before you try to figure this out?"

"It won't help!" Andros yelled back. "I've been thinking about Omni-8 since I came back and I can't remember anything that could possibly help right now. So just drop it, Zhane. I told you that I'd tell you, but I can't."

Zhane said nothing, staring angrily into the river, not in the mood for a shouting match. "What were we talking about before you attacked me?" he asked instead.

"KO-35," Andros answered, calming down a little. "We were talking about seeing the Rebels –where we think they might be, if they're okay…"

"Right," Zhane nodded as it came to him. "But the Rebels can't be the trigger."

"How do you figure?"

"You're not attacking me yet," Zhane replied. "Were you thinking about anything else?"

"No."

Zhane let out a long breath. "Then we're still at square one."

"Well, maybe I can help," a voice said from behind them.

Zhane and Andros turned quickly toward the voice that had startled them, getting to their feet as they cautiously eyed the dark-haired young woman that walked toward them.

"I'm not here to harm you," she said, slowing her pace as she reached them. "I'm not foolish enough to try to take on the Red and Silver Astrorangers, nor am I your enemy."

"Who are you?" Zhane asked, relaxing a little.

"You were on Omni-8 with me," Andros said before the young girl could respond. "You're the Kiomambliar Hunsya of Orei."

"Please call me Kio," she said somewhat sheepishly. "I cannot be known by that title any longer. I will not be returning to Orei for quite some time."

"Why's that?" Zhane asked.

"It isn't as though I _want_ to ignore my destiny," Kio began sadly. "But I could not return home… I was too afraid. I did not trust myself to be around my own people anymore. How could I lead them when I cannot be trusted? …Is that why you're here, Red Ranger? Have you determined that you cannot lead because of Omni-8? Or have the other rangers determined that for you?"

Andros cast his eyes to the ground, remembering Zhane's words just a minute before.

"That isn't why we're here," Zhane said, narrowing his eyes at her as his guilt began to build. "Why would you think that he couldn't be trusted?"

Hesitantly, Kio put her hand up to her forehead, pushing her bangs out of the way to reveal a long scar. Andros slowly lifted his head, nearly frozen before the scar that mirrored his own.

Zhane stood staring silently at the scar as long as Kio held her hair back, unsure of what to say. It was only when she released her hair that words finally came to Zhane and he let out a sigh. "How did you get that scar?" he asked.

"The same way that Andros got his," Kio answered, glancing over at Andros. "He _did_ tell you, didn't he?"

"No," Zhane said, hoping that he did not sound as sad as he felt. "He doesn't remember."

"It's an implant that the Cromians put in, one that creates false memories," Kio said softly.

"False memories?" Andros questioned. "What kind of false memories?"

"I don't know," Kio replied. "It was different for all of us. We know who we are, in a manner of speaking, but there are little holes in our pasts. It wasn't until I met up with an old friend that I realized how many memories they had changed. The only common element of the new memories was that something bad happened that was my fault. But in reality, most of those things either happened differently or didn't happen at all. They altered enough of our memories to break us. You can't rebuild something without breaking it down."

"Rebuild something into what?" Zhane asked.

"We were the first of several experiments that the Cromians created," she said. "They studied humans all the time, trying to understand how we managed to stand the test of time for so many years. Their experiments were to understand us, not to make us killers… But for whatever reason, that's what they did. They made their own army of assassins, humans with the speed and fighting skills to destroy everything in their paths."

"If it wasn't their style, why would they do that?" Zhane asked. "You think that maybe…"

"…that someone like Dark Specter might have been involved somehow?" Kio finished, folding her arms. "Almost definitely. The most powerful warriors gathered in one area and brainwashed to attack their friends and families…"

"His claw-prints are all over this," Zhane said, shaking his head as he turned to Andros. "That's how Ecliptor knew that you would go nuts that day that you got punch-happy with the quantrons. He probably even knew that I'd be next."

"So, there _have_ been attacks?" Kio inquired, looking to Andros.

Andros nodded. "This doesn't make much sense," he said. "How can altering our memories break us?"

"A person with a crushed spirit has no place further to fall," Kio replied. "If you recall, we did some terrible things on Omni-8. We hurt people… we killed people."

"Yes," Andros said quietly with a nod.

"No," Kio said. "We did nothing wrong there. But we were made to believe that we did. And they couldn't have convinced us of that if they hadn't broken us down."

"A warrior can't break his own rules unless his back's against the wall and he has no way out," Zhane said. "Never hurt humans is our code, but if they change your memories of, let's say, the other rangers' deaths, then you already believe that you've hurt someone. So in your mind, hurting someone else isn't new and you already feel as though you've hit bottom."

"But it seemed real," Andros said. "It all seemed so real. The pain and the scars, they were all real."

"After we were broken, we were trained to fight," Kio began. "Your scars are from the countless hours that we spent fighting other Cromian warriors."

"Using the Var Ta D'nig style?" Zhane asked, receiving a nod from Kio. "So Rem really wasn't there?"

"Rem of Sa'v adi Hum?" Kio inquired. "He was there… His moves inspired our training. But he was sold to one of the hundreds of monsters that came to Omni-8."

"Monsters," Andros repeated, his mind immediately centering on Darkonda and the objects that he had left in the plant pod. "Why were other monsters there?"

"I don't know," Kio answered with a shrug. "Different reasons, I suppose. But my guess is that we provided them with entertainment."

"Then we _did_ fight."

"But they never allowed us to kill one another," Kio pointed out. "The Cromians needed us alive. We had to be alive so that they could allow us to hurt our families and friends later."

"So… what are you saying?" Andros asked. "This was part of a bigger plan to get us to hurt other humans and the Cromians pretended to fall into a deep sleep and we just happened to be rescued the very next day… You're saying that this was all set up from the beginning?"

"Not at all," Kio replied. "We would have been sold to monsters, scattering us around the universe."

"Mission accomplished," Zhane said. "We helped to do that."

"You returned us home, Silver Ranger," Kio said, taking a step toward him. "Regardless of what the Cromians did to us, I know that every person that you rescued from that miserable place is glad to see their homes again."

"Or whatever's left of their homes," Andros added.

"Even so," Kio agreed, ignoring the sarcasm that she sensed in his voice.

"No offense, but how can we believe anything you say?" Andros asked. "You have a scar just like I do, which means that you have false memories too. How is it that you remember and I don't? How do we know that what you remember isn't one of those false memories you seem to know so much about?"

"You mean, how can you trust me?" Kio asked, lowering her eyes.

"Well, yes," Zhane replied. "You're still pretty much a stranger to us and Astronema's already sent her top minion here to fight us. I _hope_ that you're telling the truth, but…"

"I'm telling you the absolute truth," Kio said, meeting their eyes. "I stand to gain nothing by lying to you… My memories returned to me after something that I had done in the past was brought to my attention. As far as I can tell, the trigger is a specific memory that was lost because of the implant."

"What was yours?" Andros asked.

"I had forgotten about my sisters," Kio said softly. "Before I was taken to Omni-8, my four sisters were split amongst four separate planets after Dark Specter's attack. I was supposed to reunite them upon my return, but the memory was gone. I met with a young girl upon my arrival and had no idea that she was my little sister. When she told me who she was and why our family was no longer together, I remembered everything."

"Then, why did you say that you wouldn't return home?" Zhane asked.

"I was ashamed," Kio said, her dark eyes shining with tears. "My people once looked up to me as a hero and I returned to Orei with the belief that I had murdered several innocent people. When the true memories came rushing back, there was one last attack. In the confusion, I broke my sister's arm… Hurting my family, I have lost my people's trust. I cannot return to them or her until I am sure that _I _understand what happened to me on Omni-8. I also must make certain that I am cured and I cannot risk being around anyone until I know that I am."

"So the nightmares, the sleepwalking, the random attacking –" Andros began, starting to pace a little as he began to think.

"All gone," Kio said. "And all that you have to do to do away with yours is remember. There are probably hundreds of names in your head and you may or may not know who they all are. Maybe there's a man in your mind whose face is visible in your mind and you know his name, but you may not realize his relation to you."

"I _know_ my family," Andros said. "I know that my father is dead. I know that I have three brothers and three sisters. I know –"

"Two," Zhane said, turning to face him. "You have _two_ sisters."

"No, I have three sisters," Andros corrected. "Karone, Onel, and Talli."

Zhane just shook his head, trying to choose his words carefully now. "Well, that's one false memory confirmed," he decided on. "Talli isn't your sister… I wonder what else you don't remember."

"Hold on, Zhane," Andros said. "We still can't be sure that she's telling the truth."

"I think that you just proved that she is," he replied. "And I'm glad… We're now one step closer to ending this. We have the explanation that we were waiting for."

"Yeah," Andros said, his eyes landing on Kio. "And we got that explanation as soon as we asked for it. How convenient… Zhane, _she_ found _us_. How? And why would she leave her home planet of Orei and travel six hundred billion miles to Eltar?"

Kio took a step backward as Andros walked closer to her. "If you really wanted isolation, there are at least forty other planets that you could have gone to," he continued. "So, who are you really?"

Kio looked up at him, her eyes darting back and forth as she searched her mind for a plausible explanation. Finally, she closed her eyes and smiled a little.

"I'm called Kio," she said. "And maybe I overheard something about a prophecy and, instead of being destroyed for eavesdropping, I was offered something valuable to find and destroy the Red Astroranger."

"You work for Dark Specter?" Andros asked, narrowing his eyes at her.

"I work for anyone willing to make me an offer I can't refuse," she answered.

"Are we at the part where we fight yet?" Zhane asked, walking closer to her. "Because I think I can stand to blow off a little steam."

"Aren't you interested in why I chose to _talk_ to you instead of just fighting?" Kio asked, slowly backing away from them.

"I don't think that we're interested in anything else that you have to say anymore," Andros replied.

"I saw the scar and recognized you from Omni-8," Kio said. "My implant never worked, but everything else that I said was true… I was able to learn a great deal about how the implants worked since I was aware of everything that the Cromians said and did."

"Fine, you helped us," Zhane said, stopping in his tracks as Kio's back finally connected against a tree. "We'll go easier on you then."

"Wait," she said, beginning to panic as they continued to close in on her. "Like I said, I'm not foolish enough to fight the Red and Silver Astrorangers, even without your morphers. I'm not an idiot… I followed you here but _my_ implant doesn't work. I can't tap into the Sa'v adi Hum style as easily as you, Red Ranger but I do have more than enough firepower to take you both out, only I'm not going to."

"And you expect us to let you go?" Zhane asked. "After the lying and getting our hopes up…"

"The thing about the trigger is true," Kio protested. "So, maybe I tell the monster that hired me that I couldn't find you, that you'd already left for another planet. Or you can let me disappear… he'll think you destroyed me and he won't send me after you anymore."

"Why should we?" Andros asked.

"Because I'm just a captured warrior who got caught up in your prophecy and who would very much like to get out," Kio answered, her worried eyes pleading with them. "I chose to help you and that should count for something, right?"

"Who sent you after us?" Zhane asked, his eyes still narrowed at her as he took another step toward her.

"He's called Darkonda and I don't think that he really expected me to succeed in killing you," she explained. "He seems pretty sure that he's going to take care of that himself."

Andros and Zhane met eyes briefly before looking back to Kio.

"Go," Andros said after a moment. "Before we change our minds."

The two of them watched as Kio slid around the tree and took off across the bright green Eltarian fields, finally disappearing over a distant hill.

"Darkonda's in on the prophecy," Andros said with a sigh. "I'm actually kind of surprised."

"There's an all-powerful weapon up for grabs and we're the only ones truly standing in the way," Zhane replied. "It explains why he's trying to distract us with those things from Omni-8 and… this Kio person."

Andros sat down in the grass, staring sadly into the river. "She really wasn't lying about everything," he said. "So where does that leave us?"

"We have to figure out what the trigger is and hope that you don't kill me before we do," Zhane said, taking a seat beside him. "So, I'd say that we're exactly where we were before."


	23. Chapter 23

Ch 23

Andros and Zhane should have been back by now.

That was all that Ashley could think about every minute of every day. She especially thought about it whenever Sadi opened her mouth to speak. Even now as she sat in her room, bored as she stared down her homework, she wondered what they might be doing on Eltar.

_Not homework,_ she concluded with a sigh as the pageful of numbers and letters began to make her head swim. When would she ever need to use the cosine of 12x in the real world anyway? After what seemed like a lifetime of staring at the ten calculus problems in front of her, she let out a sigh and stood up from her desk. She had at least one more day to finish her homework. Math could wait a while longer.

Ashley let out a yawn, deciding against sleep now. It was too early for sleep, regardless of what her body commanded. Instead, she walked out of her room, stopping in front of Andros' room. Without thinking, she lightly knocked on his door, shaking her head at herself when there was no answer. After a moment the door opened and Ashley looked inside, finding no one there.

"Thanks, DECA," Ashley said quietly, looking up gratefully at DECA's camera.

Ashley walked into the room, looking around silently at Andros' bedroom. It seemed different without him in it, even though she had only seen him there once. But his bed was made, something that she knew had not been done in the two years that he had been away.

She remembered the day that she had grown bold enough to wander into the dark, sterile room that had belonged to the Red Astroranger. She had been surprised to see his room. It was such a… guy's room. She had not expected frilly pillows or anything, but it was like looking into her older brother's room. There were clothes all over the place, draped over chairs and tables, but mostly on the floor. There were papers and books strewn all over his bed and desk. The only thing that she did not see was food crushed into the floor. Zhane had cleaned up the room just a few weeks before Andros had returned, having felt that his friend would come back to him any day. And she recalled the looks that she and the other rangers had exchanged, believing that Zhane might finally have begun to drive himself crazy.

Ashley continued to look around the room, her eyes finally resting on a small framed picture on a table by his bed. She walked over to it and picked it up, smiling a little at the little girl that grinned back from behind the glass. This must have been Karone, Ashley decided as she tried matching the face in the photo with the one that she had seen momentarily in the footage that Andros had watched a week ago. Tears came to her eyes as she thought about Andros' expression the day she had caught him watching it. He had been so sad and vulnerable, feelings that she seemed to share every time he crossed her mind.

She put the picture back onto the table with a sigh and turned to walk out of the room, suddenly feeling strange about being in his room without him there. But as she reached the door, a small orange envelope on his desk caught her eye. She leaned over to look at it, finding her name written neatly on the front of it. Ashley reached over and pulled it closer to her, verifying that her name was indeed on the envelope. It was and she picked it up, stepping out of Andros' room before opening it.

Inside was a small disc, not unlike the one that Andros had watched on the bridge. Ashley slowly made her way to the Simudeck, knowing that she could be alone there with Carlos on the bridge scanning the area and the others in their rooms. Ashley let the door close behind her and pressed the sequence that locked the door, waiting until she heard it latch before walking to the Simudeck's main console.

"Start simulation," she said after pressing another sequence of buttons.

Immediately, the Simudeck's cold silver walls transformed into an exact replica of the Megaship's bridge and Ashley sat in Andros' usual seat in front of the console. She opened the small compartment that she had seen Andros place his disc into days before and placed into it the disc in her hand. The screen before her buzzed a little before Andros' face appeared on the screen.

"Um, hi," Andros said, sitting up straighter. "If you're watching this, then that means that I actually got up the nerve to leave this disc somewhere for you to find. It also means that you're a very predictable person, Ashley."

Ashley smiled a little as Andros seemed to make eye contact through the screen.

"It also means that it's been at least a week since I've been gone," he continued. "And I'm pretty sure that you wouldn't go into my room unless I've been gone for a substantial amount of time. That also means that Sadi is still on the Megaship."

He lowered his head and let out a sigh. "And I'm sorry about that," he said, lightly shaking his head. "I guess that I should've expected her to make an appearance after I contacted her… I don't even know why I did. But I ended up telling her way too much about what happened on Omni-8 and now she's using it to turn you guys against me. If she _has_ decided to tell you everything that she knows about me, then I don't blame you if you don't trust me… I don't even blame you if you don't like me."

Ashley shook her head. Of course she still liked him, she thought to herself. No matter what he had done on Omni-8, he was still a good guy as far as she could tell.

"But if you're still watching this, then it's possible that you either don't believe her or that you're at least willing to hear me out," Andros continued. "And if so, then I'm glad that you want to have enough faith in me to believe that I would never hurt anyone… "

She thought that she saw tears in his eyes then and he looked away for a moment. "Anyway," he said, straightening up in his seat again. "The reason that I'm making this is because… well, I promised you a Karovan lesson today and I have at least one hour before the Phantom Ranger comes. I have this feeling that if I try to do this face-to-face with you, then you won't be able to focus. You'll be thinking about Zhane and me and the fact that we're leaving. So, I mean if you're still interested in learning Karovan… It's not a big deal if you're not anymore. I'm sure that you have other things on your mind right now."

Ashley smiled as he continued to stumble over his words for a while, wondering if he would be so kind and vulnerable once he returned to the Megaship. _If _he returned, she corrected. No, she was sure that he would come back. Even _he_ was sure that he was coming back. It was _when_ he was coming back that seemed unsure. Ashley looked back up to the screen to see Andros sitting silently now, his hands in his lap, with a small smile on his face.

"I hope that this proves just how predictable you are," he said. "I knew that if I babbled for a while, you'd start thinking about the fact that Zhane and I aren't there anymore. And if you didn't… well, I already know that you did."

Ashley laughed. "Predictable, am I?" she said to herself with a smile.

"But if you're ready," Andros began. "I'll start the lesson. Don't worry about writing anything down. It's better to just listen the first time around since repeating what I say won't do much good if I'm not there to help you with your inflection. If you want to pause this to practice, that's okay. If you want to watch this in sections, then that's good too."

Andros cleared his throat. "I can start by teaching you a few common words like 'hello' and 'goodbye' and then start on common phrases like 'how are you', 'the red pen is floating in space', and 'a morkoh bit my finger off'."

Ashley smiled again, glad that Andros could make jokes when he wanted to. It was nice to know that his sense of humor was not completely nonexistent.

"Okay," he said. "Let's start with the basics."

-0-0-0-0-0-

"Are you sure that this is a good idea?" Andros asked for the fifth time that morning, breaking the small thin bar that they were forced to call a meal in half with a sigh. "Aren't we wasting food?"

"First of all, it should be a crime to call these things food," Zhane replied, tying his shoestring around the ration. "Second, I'm more than willing to risk a few rations for a chance to eat real food."

"But we've been walking by this river for a few days now and I haven't seen anything swimming in it yet," Andros said, pulling out his own shoestring and tying one end to a stick and the other to one half of the ration. "Are you sure that you saw something in it?"

"For the hundredth time, yes," Zhane said, though he peered into the moving water and sighed. He was almost sure that he saw something. "Anyway, what does it matter whether or not I actually saw something in there? Like you said, we've been walking around for a while and now we have an excuse to rest for a few minutes, right?"

"I guess so," Andros replied, shaking his head as he held tightly onto the stick and swung the ration into the water as Zhane did the same. "Although, I don't think that I've ever seen a fish eat a ration."

"Then we might see something new today," Zhane said with a smile. "Just try to relax and turn your mind off for a while… if you can."

They sat silently for a few minutes, enjoying the cool breeze that lifted from the water and flowed through their hair. But Andros could not help leaning over the water every few seconds, looking for any kind of movement.

"You really can't relax, can you?" Zhane asked suddenly, making Andros jump a little.

"What do you mean?" Andros asked, his eyes fixed on the seemingly empty water.

"What's going on in that head of yours now?" Zhane asked with a sigh. "And don't tell me that it's nothing because there's definitely something wrong."

"You really don't stress over anything, do you?" Andros asked instead.

"What makes you say that?"

"Since I've been back, you haven't talked about anything."

"Neither have you," Zhane pointed out with a shrug.

"Do you even think about what happened?" Andros asked, turning to Zhane in frustration. "We lost our homes. We lost our family. We lost our friends. Zhane –our team, how can you just –? "

"Hold on a second," Zhane said, turning to Andros. "It's not like I forgot everything. I lost my sister that day… I think about those moments more than I'd like to admit, but I've accepted the fact that I can't change what happened and it took a while but I moved on."

"How?" Andros asked, looking for hope in Zhane's eyes. "How can you move on?"

"I just told you," Zhane said. "I accepted that I couldn't change anything and I –"

"But we could have changed it!" Andros nearly shouted, his eyes filling with tears. "_I_ could have changed it… if I had just said no. If I had stopped you from going –"

"How would that have changed anything?" Zhane asked, shaking his head. "Granted, it wasn't the best plan in the world, but it was the only plan that we had left that didn't involve us surrendering to Dark Specter. Even if you could have stopped us from going that day, we'd have probably gone behind your back later and everything would be the same, except you wouldn't have been there to see it."

Andros lowered his head at the thought, knowing that his friends would be gone no matter what he had done. "Was it so bad under my leadership that all my friends could ignore a direct order to stay on the Megaship instead of leaving to die?"

"Don't start with this," Zhane said, rolling his eyes. "I've been stroking your ego about your leadership since you became a ranger, Andros. If your confidence in your abilities and leadership as a ranger are still that low, then I'm not going to do it anymore."

Andros raised his head again, turning to Zhane again. "What's wrong with you?"

"I'm tired," Zhane replied. "I keep trying to push you toward greatness and you throw every compliment and victory back at me. I'm tired, Andros… I can ignore the prophecy and the Oracle's words and tell you that you have the potential to be the greatest Astroranger of all time but you won't even try to see it."

"Why can't _you_ be the greatest Astroranger of all time?" Andros mumbled.

"You see?" Zhane said. "I threw yet another compliment your way and you just turned it back to me."

"I can't see myself that way, Zhane," Andros said sadly. "Every time that I think about what I've accomplished in life, I draw a blank on anything that I did that was good… And our friends, Zhane. The way that they died…"

"It was quick enough that they didn't suffer much," Zhane said, taking in Andros' confused stare. "Why are you staring at me like that?"

"How can you say that they didn't suffer?" Andros asked. "Fuso's body was cut into pieces, Jishai was somewhere screaming in pain, and Aeden was –"

"What are you talking about?" Zhane asked, mirroring Andros' confusion. "When did that happen?"

"On Dark Specter's ship," Andros replied. "You were there."

"How long do you think we were there?" Zhane asked carefully.

"I don't know…maybe a few hours," Andros answered. "Why are you asking me questions like I'm making it all up?"

"Well…" Zhane began, his eyes gradually landing on Andros' scar.

"I'm not making it up," Andros replied firmly. "I think about it all the time. I have nightmares about it –"

"Andros, we were on Dark Specter's ship for about fifteen minutes to disguise ourselves as quantrons and steal some Velocifighters," Zhane said. "Fuso and Jishai were shot out of the air when they died… When we met up at our meeting point, it was only the two of us… How do you not remember that?"

"I… I don't remember it that way," Andros said, trying to remember. "It happens differently in my head."

"Another false memory," Zhane said with a nod. "I wonder what else you don't remember."

Andros let out a sigh and set his stick down in the grass. "Get up," he said as he got to his feet.

"You gonna fight me again?" Zhane asked, abandoning his own stick and standing up.

"Actually, that's kind of the plan," Andros said. "We need to figure out the trigger and I'm tired of wasting time."

"What changed your mind?"

"I don't remember anything," Andros said in a defeated voice. "I just barely remember what my friends looked like, including my own brother. Every time I dream about them, there are certain people that I never see because I don't have a memory of their faces… I couldn't save my friends from dying, but I want to at least remember them."

"Then, you did believe Kio?" Zhane asked.

"Well, I'm not exactly proving her wrong," Andros said. "Even if she lied to us about some of it, we should see for ourselves how much of her story is true."

"So how are we going to do that?"

"We need to talk about things," Andros replied. "We need to talk about everything that I don't remember and you need to correct everything that you know is wrong. If Kio was telling the truth, then I should attack you… and hopefully for the last time."

"I'm ready when you are," Zhane said, taking a few steps back from him. "And since your mind seems to center on what happened to the other rangers, maybe we should start there."

"Okay," Andros said with a nod. "Should _I_ start or should you?"

"Tell me exactly what you remember about that day, from beginning to end," Zhane said. "I want times down to the minute, if you remember them, and I want faces –descriptions, names, everything."

"I'll try, but I told that I don't remember faces," Andros said. "But I'll give you what I can."

_Andros had opened his eyes to the sound of an alarm. He had been certain that it wasn't DECA's usual alarm to wake him because he had only just closed his eyes a few minutes earlier. It was louder and more annoying than his regular alarm. He had looked around to find himself on the Megaship's bridge, where he had slept for the past three nights._

"_Wakey, wakey," Fuso had said as he walked onto the bridge, followed by the others. "The time for sleep has ended, my friend."_

"_I_ said that," Zhane interrupted. "The others came in after _me_."

"Alright," Andros replied. "You walked in first and Fuso didn't say anything, okay?"

"_What is it, DECA?" Andros had asked with a yawn._

"_Dark Specter has sent quantrons and a Lumilium monster to KO-35's main hospital," DECA had informed them._

"_First, he sends our people to the hospital, now he wants to finish them off," Lyell had said as they headed to the jumptubes, quickly putting her hair into a ponytail._

"What did Lyell look like?" Zhane asked, interrupting him again and receiving a glare from Andros. "I told you that I wanted detail."

Andros let out a sigh.

"_First, he sends our people to the hospital, now he wants to finish them off," Lyell had said as they headed to the jumptubes, quickly putting her platinum blonde hair into a ponytail._

_Once the Astrorangers had returned to the ship, having defeated the monster and the massive number of quantrons–_

"I don't have to tell you how many quantrons we fought that day, do I?" Andros stopped again.

"Not necessary," Zhane said, shaking his head. "But you remembered that we won that morning and that's the important part."

"_That was too close," Fuso had said, running his fingers through his hair –his dark red hair, finding Lumilium monster slime in it. "And now it's shower time."_

"_Um… well, don't get too comfortable," Jishai had said, unconsciously checking her own brown hair for slime just as everyone else did, breathing a sigh of relief when she found none. "DECA's picking up something else on her scanners."_

"_What is it?" Andros had asked, hurrying over to Jishai._

"_Quantrons," Jishai had replied, focusing on a small console. "And lots of them… Hundreds of Velocifighters ready to swarm at any given moment."_

"_The fact that we can even pick up his ship on our scanners means that he wants us to know that," Aeden had said. "He's going to take over KO-35."_

"_Not if we can help it," Andros had said firmly._

"_Then, we're going to need a plan to stop it today," Zhane had said._

"_Short of invading Dark Specter's ship, we don't have a plan," Lyell had said._

"_Then we're agreed?" Fuso had asked. "There's a plan."_

"_We're not getting anywhere near Dark Specter's ship," Andros had said. _

"_Why not?"_

"_Because it would be suicide," Andros had replied. "We're already one ranger down and we don't have the firepower to take down Dark Specter's ship. The Megaship's too damaged."_

"_We can always fix it," Jishai had suggested. "It would only take a day or two."_

"_We may not have a day or two," Andros had said. _

"_So what do we do?" Lyell had asked. "We can't surrender."_

"_We fight," Andros had said after a moment. "We fight like we always do."_

"_Only this time, we'll die," Fuso had said. "I really don't want to die."_

"_Not really an option anymore," Zhane had said, making them all turn to look at him. "Our options are to surrender and be killed, die fighting a million Velocifighters and die, or attack Dark Specter's ship and die… "_

"_We're not attacking his ship," Andros had said firmly. _

"_If we can destroy some of those Velocifighters before they take off, then we might stand a chance when we make it back home."_

"_That's _if_ we make it back home," Andros had replied with a glare. "Let's just take the rest of the day to warn our people of the attack and help them to evacuate. Then we can fix the Megaship as much as possible before Dark Specter launches another attack."_

"_We don't have that kind of time," Zhane had said. "We have to attack now!"_

"_No, we don't," Andros had countered._

"_Let's put it to a vote, then," Lyell had said. "Majority rules as always and we act like adults for a minute."_

"_Fine," Zhane had agreed. "All for surrendering?"_

_No one had raised their hands, though they had all looked at one another as if they had expected someone to agree to it. _

"_All for waiting until Dark Specter sends the Velocifighters after us before we fight back?" Zhane had asked._

_Andros had raised his hand immediately, looking around him to find that he was to only one who had._

"_Seriously?" Andros had asked, putting his hand down. "You all want to die?"_

"_Andros, if there's even the smallest chance that we can take some of them out before they get to us, then we should try," Aeden had said._

"_You call yourself my brother?" Andros had asked him, shaking his head at him._

"_Right now, I'm speaking to you as your teammate," Aeden had said. "And we're all in agreement… majority rules."_

"Is all this right so far?" Andros asked.

"Yes," Zhane said softly. "But we haven't hit the trigger yet and my legs are getting tired."

"It's only been ten minutes," Andros said. "And you wanted detail from beginning to end."

"Like I said, my legs are _getting_ tired," Zhane replied. "Now continue."

"I don't have to go into detail about saying goodbye to our families, do I?"

"No, skip that," Zhane said, seeing the sadness in Andros' face. "If we don't hit the trigger when you're done, we'll go back to all the parts you skipped. In fact, skip all of that Dark Specter's ship stuff too. We've already established that you don't remember that part correctly anyway. And to be honest, I don't think that I want you describing anything quite that gruesome. Just start at the part when we met up on KO-35 and I asked you about Lyell and Aeden."

"Why did you ask _me_ about Lyell and Aeden, anyway?" Andros asked.

"You told me that you saw them land on KO-35," Zhane answered, lowering his head. "And you said that you'd found the Velocifighters but not them, right?"

Zhane looked up when Andros did not answer, watching as Andros got closer to him. His eyes were glazed over and his face was expressionless now and Zhane began backing away slowly.

"Andros?" he asked cautiously.

"M'orru han hes," Andros said distantly, taking another step toward Zhane and closing his eyes. "Ior mies aesid hes."


	24. Chapter 24

Ch 24

Ashley slowly tiptoed from the Simudeck to the Megalift, wondering why everything she touched or passed seemed to only make the loudest noises in the middle of the night. The one thing that she was not counting on was a second lecture from Sadi about the importance of curfew. She held her breath until she reached the door to her bedroom, letting out a sigh of relief as her door opened.

"Ash?" Ashley heard from behind her, making her jump.

She whirled around to find Cassie standing in her own doorway, quickly putting something behind her back that clattered on the ground behind her. Cassie gave a quick glance to the floor behind her and turned just as quickly back to Ashley, a guilty smile on her face.

"What was that?" Ashley asked softly.

"Um… well, it's a…" Cassie stammered, unsuccessful in making up a lie to tell her best friend.

"It's okay," Ashley said, turning back to her room. "You don't have to –"

"No, Ash," Cassie said, stepping forward and taking a quick glance around her. "I want to tell you… just not out here."

Ashley walked into Cassie's room, picking up the large round metal thing from the floor. "So… what _is_ that?" Ashley began.

"It's the Phantom Ranger's," Cassie said, waiting until her door shut behind her before beginning. "He's been monitoring the ship since Andros and Zhane left and I was on my way to the bridge to see if DECA could figure out a way for me to send him a message."

"He talked to you on this?" Ashley asked, placing the object on Cassie's desk. "What'd he say?"

"Only what we've all been thinking since Sadi got here," Cassie replied with a sigh, sitting on her bed. "She's up to something… He thinks that she might be working for Astronema, who's been tailing us undetected for a while."

"Why didn't we pick it up on DECA's scanners?" Ashley asked. "That was the point of sitting on the bridge and scanning manually every night, wasn't it?"

"Maybe not," Cassie said with a shrug. "If she did something to allow Astronema to slip past our scanners, then she can always argue that scanning manually was her idea –the perfect way to prove her innocence."

"So, we should tell the others, right?"

"Well, Esson said that he'd look into it and let us know something in the next few days," Cassie said. "He's counting on Andros and Zhane being back by then."

"Who's Esson?" Ashley asked, meeting Cassie's eyes for a moment.

"Um…" Cassie began as her cheeks started to redden.

"Phantom Ranger told you his real name?" Ashley squealed excitedly, running to sit beside Cassie on her bed. "Did he say anything else?"

Cassie nodded, a smile creeping across her face. "He told me that he would show me what he looks like once we're face-to-face."

"When will that be?"

"I don't know," Cassie said dreamily. "But I hope it's soon."

"Aww," Ashley cooed teasingly. "You're dating Phantom Ranger. You're dating Phantom Ranger…"

"Anyway," Cassie said with a smile, interrupting Ashley's chant. "What are you doing up at this hour?"

"I was… coming back from the Simudeck," Ashley said slowly.

"Kind of late for a workout," Cassie replied. "Were you practicing those moves that Sadi showed us?"

"Actually, I wasn't training," Ashley said sheepishly. "I was, um… practicing Karovan."

"Karovan, huh?" Cassie asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, Sadi showed up the day that Andros said that he would teach me and so we didn't have a chance to do anything," Ashley explained. "So, he made a video for me before he left and I've been practicing for the past four nights since then."

"Uh-huh," Cassie said with a sly smile. "And why is it that you wanted to learn Karovan again?"

"It's not what you're thinking, Cass," Ashley said, shaking her head at her friend's expression. "I just figured that someone other than Zhane should try to get to know Andros, you know? I mean, he comes back to a group of people who don't know him and barely trust him. He's spent all of his time here trying to keep us all at arms length. It just seemed to me that one of us should find a way to keep him from completely isolating himself from us."

"Of course," Cassie said with a nod. "A chance to get to know him a little better, right?"

"Right," Ashley replied.

"And you only started learning Karovan four nights ago, right?"

"Yeah…"

"And so that means that you didn't have the video before then," Cassie said. "Which means that you found the video somewhere… like maybe in his room?"

Ashley looked away. "And if I did?" she asked softly.

"If you did, then that means that you had to go into his room for _some_ reason," Cassie replied. "And that reason was…"

"I was just bored with homework one day and I didn't have anything else to do," Ashley tried to explain in spite of her blushing cheeks. "I went in there because…"

"Because maybe you… missed him?" Cassie suggested with a grin.

"Are you implying something, Cassie?" Ashley asked, unable to hide her own smile.

"You _like_ him," Cassie said, nudging Ashley a little with her elbow. "You like Andros. You like Andros."

"I don't like Andros," Ashley interrupted just as she was beginning to take a liking to her friend's chant. "I just met him and I don't know anything about him… It's too early to like him, isn't it?"

"Well, I like Phantom Ranger and I don't know anything about him… except his name," Cassie said dreamily. "Esson…"

"But he at least has feelings for you, I'm sure," Ashley replied. "I doubt that Andros would let himself like me even if he liked me a little… No, this is too early, Cass. I can't like him, especially when I've known him for… like three days."

"Technically, it's been almost two weeks now," Cassie said. "And, if you think about it, I've barely spoken to Phantom Ranger in the time that I've known him. In fact, our conversations probably add up to less than three hours."

"I guess…"

"Besides, I think it's clear that he feels something for you, Ash," Cassie said. "He gave up his locket for your morpher and he made that video for you –not for _us_, but for you. It looks like baby steps to something bigger and better in my opinion."

"It just seems nuts to like him when we've barely spoken to one another," Ashley said with a sigh.

"I'm going to pretend that your comment doesn't apply to me and that you aren't calling me nuts for a minute," Cassie said, standing from her bed. "But I'm more than certain that he's talked to you more than anyone else since he got here, maybe even more than Zhane. Besides, liking someone and loving someone are two different things. Tell me you want to marry him in a few more days and then I'll tell you you're crazy."

"I don't think you're nuts for liking Phantom Ranger," Ashley said, finally realizing her words. "I think that what you two have is great. It's wonderful and poetic and strange because you two don't know much about one another…"

"And the difference between Phantom Ranger and me versus you and Andros would be what?"

Ashley sighed softly. "For right now?" she asked, lowering her eyes. "I guess it would be trust."

-0-0-0-0-

"Sorry," Zhane said, helping Andros to his feet. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Andros replied, bringing his hand to his head. "So, you can only stop me by hurting me, huh?"

"Well… sometimes," Zhane answered. "I usually just wait until you stop on your own when I know that I can at least dodge you for a while. Other times, you're too fast for me and I remembered that the first time you attacked me here, you stopped when you hit your head against a wall."

"How lucky for you," Andros said sarcastically. "You learned that brain damage is the key to stopping the attacks."

"For now," Zhane replied with a smile. "But if you can think of a better way to stop you when you're like that, I'm all ears."

"It's fine… for now," Andros said. "So, I guess it's safe to say that we figured out the trigger, right?"

"Looks like it," Zhane said, cautiously looking at Andros. "Just don't strain yourself trying to remember what it was. In fact, don't try to remember anything for a while."

"We did this so that I _would_ remember," Andros sighed.

"Yeah, but if you start thinking about it again, you'll attack me again," Zhane pointed out. "And I can't risk giving you a concussion every time you attack me or you really _will_ have brain damage."

"I guess so," Andros replied. "But Kio said that remembering everything would stop the attacks."

"Then _I__'__ll_ think about it," Zhane said, taking a quick look around them before sitting down in the grass and watching Andros do the same from the corner of his eye. He let out a sigh and brought his knees to his chest, resting his head on them for a moment. After a moment he closed his eyes, trying to remember something, anything that might help.

"Are you afraid of me when I'm like that?" Andros asked when he began to tire of the uncomfortable silence between them.

"Sometimes," Zhane replied honestly, turning his head to him. "Maybe it's not as bad when your eyes are closed, but when they're open… there's nothing there. No expression at all, not anger, not happiness. Just… nothing. I mean, even sitting here right now, there's an expression on your face. But as soon as you start attacking, it's like you're gone."

"I want to remember," Andros said softly. "Knowing that you don't trust me is bad enough, but the fact that I scare you…"

"You don't scare me so much that I can't hurt you when I have to," Zhane joked, giving Andros a nudge. "So stop with the guilt already. It's not so bad."

"Right," Andros replied with a sigh.

"Will you stop moping?" Zhane asked, rolling his eyes. "Think about something else for a while. No more guilt. I'm not dead."

"Think about something else like what?"

"Well, did you ever figure out what the Oracle gave you?"

"A kiss, remember?" Andros answered with a tiny smile.

"Yeah, I remember," Zhane said with a nod. "But Iides said that she was instructed to give you a gift from your father… I doubt that she'd need instructions to kiss you –on the _forehead_, I might add. So don't brag too much about it."

"I don't know about any other gift I could've gotten," Andros replied with a shrug. "Have _you_ noticed anything different since then?"

"Well, the attacks weren't happening as often until Iides kissed you."

"My dad liked you, Zhane. I don't think that he'd give me the gift of attacking you."

"I know that," Zhane said. "But what else has happened since then that would seem like a gift?"

"Well, I haven't killed you with any of these attacks yet. I'd say that's a nice gift."

"Yeah," Zhane replied quietly, standing up again. "Maybe we should just go now… We still have to take the dorig to its temple."

"We're actually doing that?" Andros asked, genuinely surprised at Zhane for once. "I thought you'd try to hold onto it until you determined that enough time had passed before asking it another question."

"Well, I'd rather not take a chance on destroying the universe," Zhane answered. "Besides, what else could Iides possibly tell me that I don't already know? I know what the trigger is, even if I don't know what we need to do to end the attacks. I know that you haven't really stopped thinking about what the Oracle said since we talked to her. I know that you've been calling out for your brother for the past few nights, which kills me because he was one of my best friends. And I know that I wish we had never opened the stupid dorig because I haven't stopped thinking about _anything_ since we've been here!"

Andros looked up silently at Zhane, who looked away from him in embarrassment as tears clouded his eyes. "I'm sorry that I'm such a burden on you," he said sadly. "I don't mean to –"

"Shut up," Zhane said firmly, looking directly into Andros' eyes before he continued. "You never mean to do anything… you don't mean to attack me. You don't mean to keep things from me. You don't mean to lie to me."

"Well, I don't," Andros argued.

"Well, maybe you should," Zhane replied angrily. "Maybe all of this is happening because you're fighting against feelings and thoughts that are just natural to you."

"Are you saying that I'm _evil_?" Andros asked just as angrily. "This is coming from the guy who's supposed to be my best friend –the same guy who didn't believe in the prophecy, the guy who wants me to lead our team and be a hero –"

"I didn't say you were evil," Zhane interrupted. "But you seem to be going in the opposite direction of heroism, you know? You just said so yourself that _I_want you to lead the team, that _I_want you to be the hero. What do _you_ want?"

"I want to live to see the end of the prophecy," he answered. "I want my best friend to have faith in me again. I want… I want to have faith in myself for a change. I want to know that our families are okay. And I want Sadi away from our friends."

"I want all of those things too," Zhane said softly. "Probably more than you do… But we'll never get those things if you don't get some confidence and treat this prophecy like it's already in the past. You need to at least pretend that you could care less about what some stupid prophecy has to say and care even less about what the Oracle says. You need to tell yourself and anyone who wants you to fail that you're not dead yet and you're going to fight until the end. And you have to be determined that you have no end, that your death is no longer on the agenda."

"Not yet," Andros muttered in frustration, shaking his head to himself and getting up from the ground quickly enough that he was oblivious to the object that suddenly fell from his pocket.

"What was that?" Zhane asked, quickly forgetting his confidence-building speech as the movement of the falling object caught his eye.

Andros reached his hands into his pockets, finding them empty and looking around his feet for what had fallen out. But Zhane found it first, picking up the dainty gold necklace laying on his shoe and looking it over.

"Where'd this come from?" Zhane asked.

"Give it back," Andros replied firmly, taking a step toward him as Zhane took a step back.

"Where'd you get a necklace this pretty from?" Zhane began to tease. "Personally, I'd have gone with something a bit more, you know… manly."

"Give it back, Zhane," Andros said again, holding his hand out for it.

"I don't know, Andros," Zhane said, shaking his head with a grin as Andros attempted to snatch the necklace from him. But he effortlessly held the necklace away from him. "You worry about me not trusting you and you won't even answer a few questions about a necklace that falls out of your pocket."

Andros sighed softly, knowing that telling the truth was the only way to get it back. "It's Ashley's," he finally said. "She gave it to me until I get my locket back. It's not a big deal. Now give it back."

"I knew it," Zhane nearly shouted with a smile. "So you _do_ like her."

"_No_," Andros replied, reaching down and taking the necklace from him. "She just wanted us to be even after I got her morpher back. Ashley and I haven't even known each other long enough to justify any kind of feelings that we might have for each other –which we don't…"

"So, you don't like her?"

"Of course, I like her," Andros said. "I've even told her so. But I don't _like_ her."

"You just like her, but not _like_ her," Zhane repeated. "What if she likes you?"

"I haven't given her a reason to like me in that way," Andros replied.

"You're right," Zhane said, nodding his head. "You only traded one of the most important things in your life for her morpher and offered to teach her a language that would allow the two of you to talk to one another. Then there was that day that you spent time with her at her school and –"

"It wasn't my idea to teach her Karovan," Andros countered. "And I only went to her school because you were mad at me that morning…"

"About Skye, your fiancée," Zhane said.

"You're going to accuse me of liking Ashley and in the next second you bring up Skye," Andros said. "Do you even want me to marry Skye anymore?"

"No," Zhane replied. "I know that you'd be unhappy if you ever did. Just don't start a relationship with Ashley if you're going to break it off when you see Skye."

"Relationship?" Andros repeated incredulously. "What relationship? There's no relationship with Ashley. She's a friend, Zhane. And with Sadi on the ship, I don't even know if that's true anymore."

"Why do you think that Sadi knows enough about this to ruin your life?" Zhane asked, knowing the answer immediately as Andros looked guiltily at him. "You told her everything, didn't you?"

"Yes," Andros said softly.

"But we know that you didn't kill anyone on Omni-8."

"But we're the only ones who know that right now," Andros replied. "And Sadi is probably making everything seem even worse than I thought it was."

"Well, we can clear up everything when we get back," Zhane said. "I have faith that even if the others don't trust either of us, they'll listen to what we have to say… it's all they've been waiting for. And they _want_ to trust us, so I believe that they will."

"Is that the confidence you were just telling me about?" Andros asked with a sigh.

"Yep," Zhane answered with a smile. "Are you getting any of it for yourself?"

"Some," Andros replied.

"Does any of it want you to admit anything about Ashley?"

"No."

"Are you sure?" Zhane pressed on.

"Yes," Andros said firmly, pushing away any doubt in his mind and hoping that Zhane would not pick up on it. But the grin on Zhane's face told him that his efforts were futile. "If I _did_ like her, what would that change?"

"Maybe nothing," Zhane said with a shrug. "But if she likes you back, maybe everything."

"What if –," Andros began with a sigh, interrupted by the slow descent of a disc-like device that floated a few feet in front of them. He briefly felt along its underside, waiting for his fingers to contact a button before he pressed the red button, a screen slowly rising from it with Phantom Ranger's image on it.

"Zhane, Andros," Phantom Ranger began. "It seems that Astronema has chosen not to wait for you two to return to go after the Demon Sword of Kurakk. The Dark Fortress is on its way here right now and Astronema seems to be bringing an entire army with her."

"And the other rangers?" Andros inquired, hoping for the best but expecting to hear the worst. After all, Sadi had been alone with them for nearly two weeks now.

"They're fine. I've already contacted them," Phantom Ranger replied as Andros let out the breath he had been holding. "Sadi has agreed to program the shuttle to get you. I can update the shuttle's programming from here now that I know exactly where you are. You'll have exactly fifteen minutes to board before it takes off and reconnects to the Astro Megaship. The ship will take you the rest of the way to Kurakk."

"Will we be able to get there before she does?" Zhane asked.

"She's taking her time for whatever reason, maybe trying to seem inconspicuous," Phantom Ranger replied. "But there's no mistaking that she's on her way here and I'm going to need your help."

"We'll be there," Andros said.

"Of course we'll be there," Zhane said with a nod.

"Good," Phantom Ranger said. "I'll fill you in on everything else before you get to Kurakk. Getting to where the sword is won't be easy."

"We can handle it," Andros said. "How soon do you think we'll be on our way?"

"Give it another ten to fifteen minutes," Phantom Ranger replied. "If anything goes wrong, I'll find a way to get you here."

The screen went blank and Andros caught the whirring object just as it stopped floating. He and Zhane stood silently as they looked to the skies of Eltar for what they hoped would be the last time for a long while.

"You worried?" Zhane asked after a moment.

"About the danger and extreme peril on Kurakk that we've always been warned about?" Andros asked. "A little… You?"

"Fairly terrified," Zhane replied. "But the fact that you're coming with us to do this means something."

"It means that I'm crazy," Andros said.

"It means that you're once again choosing to be a ranger," Zhane said. "And that means that you've answered that awful question that you asked me last week about whether or not you should be a ranger."

Andros smiled to himself. "I guess I have," he said.

"Good," Zhane said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "So, I hope that you'll never ask me that again."

"You don't have to worry about that," Andros replied. "If I ever decide to give up being a ranger, it'll be my own decision –not Sadi's, not yours. But I think I'd like to stay with it for a while, you know? Just to see where things go from here."

"That's a pretty healthy attitude," Zhane said with a smile. "That's actually the main reason that I've stuck around for so long. It's all about curiosity."

"Yeah," Andros said, pushing the coming battle out of his mind along with the Oracle's words and the rest of the prophecy. Zhane's words had finally reached him and he could no longer dwell on the impending danger. After all, he was not dead yet.

"Oh, and Andros?" Zhane asked, interrupting Andros' thoughts briefly.

"Yeah?"

"Don't think for a minute that we're done talking about this thing you have for Ashley."


	25. Chapter 25

Ch 25

It had taken less than an hour for the Astro Megaship to reach Kurakk and the rangers waited patiently for Andros and Zhane to arrive by shuttle. Phantom Ranger had contacted the Astrorangers over a half-hour ago, wondering why the Astro Megaship had taken off without waiting for the shuttle to reach Andros and Zhane. The rangers had all glared at Sadi as she shrugged and explained that she had misunderstood the initial plan before finally sending the shuttle off to get them.

Now, fifteen minutes later, the rangers sat patiently on the bridge, waiting for DECA's announcement of the shuttle's docking. Sadi had retreated to the workbay, having grown tired of the tension between herself and the others during the wait and deciding to eat something for the second time in three hours. The rangers were more than happy to be rid of her, even if it was for a few minutes.

"I hate her," Carlos said as soon as Sadi left the bridge. "I really hate her."

"We all hate her," T.J. said with a sigh, swiveling back and forth in his seat. "But we could probably be a little more discreet about it."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you could at least wait until she gets on the Megalift to say stuff like that out loud," Cassie answered with a smile.

"And you could try not saying things like that when she's in the same room with you," Ashley suggested. "I think you mumbled it twice yesterday while we were training on the Simudeck."

"I can't help it," Carlos said. "I see her or I hear her voice and I just want to scream. Why is she still here?"

"She said that she'd be here for two years," T.J. replied.

"But Andros and Zhane seemed to think that they'd be back in a couple of weeks," Ashley pointed out. "There must be a reason that they'd believe that."

"All I know is that if she's here for another week, I'm turning in my morpher," Carlos said. "Mission or no mission, she's too much for me to take."

The others nodded in agreement, not certain if that qualified as an oral contract, but they could not help but feel that it was too serious a scenario for words. It would be difficult to leave their morphers behind and they hoped that it would never come to that, but Sadi seemed focused more on training the rangers to fight Andros rather than to fight Dark Specter or Darkonda. Even moments ago before leaving the bridge, Sadi had warned the rangers not to allow Andros and Zhane access to the Megaship other than the ship's space hatch.

They all continued to sit silently until DECA broke the silence with a small beep as her red light flashed briefly. "Shuttle docking procedure complete."

"Finally," T.J. said, getting up from his chair and walking with the others to the Megalift.

By the time they arrived, Andros and Zhane were already standing in the space hatch by the shuttle, putting down their bags and Phantom Ranger's communication device.

"Welcome back, guys," Ashley said, walking up to them with a smile.

"It's way too early to celebrate, Ash," Zhane said.

Andros nodded. "Where's Sadi?" he asked.

"Eating… again," Carlos answered, rolling his eyes. "Did she ever do _anything_ when she was a ranger?"

"She trained a lot," Zhane replied with a shrug. "I couldn't stand her then anymore than I can now, but I can't deny that she can fight better than anyone I've ever met."

"Did she say that she was coming with us?" Andros asked.

"No," T.J. said. "And maybe it's better if she doesn't. It's been kind of tense since you guys left."

"You mean you hate her, right?" Zhane asked with a grin.

T.J. smiled. "Pretty much," he said with a nod. "So, what do we need to know about this thing before we go?"

Andros and Zhane exchanged a glance. "Astronema is going after the Demon Sword of Kurakk," Andros began. "And getting to the sword won't be easy."

"Phantom Ranger mentioned that," Carlos said. "But he said that we could probably handle it."

"Oh, we don't have any doubts about reaching the sword," Zhane said. "The problem will be leaving with it."

"It's just a sword, right?" Cassie asked. "Don't we leave with it the same way that we go in?"

"This is the _Demon_ Sword of Kurakk," Andros explained. "It's not just a sword; it's a living, breathing thing. It feeds from the life energy of anyone holding it and has the ability to possess that person once their energy is drained."

"Then that means that we won't be able to touch it," Ashley said.

"No, it means that Andros and I won't be able to touch it," Zhane replied. "Morphed, you'll be able to hold the sword without it draining much of your life energy."

"_Much_ of it?" Carlos inquired. "Still sounds kind of dangerous."

"As long as you stay morphed, the draining process will take more time," Andros said.

"Well, not that we aren't happy to see you, but why would Phantom Ranger ask you here if you can't even get close to the sword?" Carlos asked.

"He's doing us a favor," Zhane answered. "And he mentioned something about needing all the help he can get if Astronema unleashes an army of quantrons and monsters."

"Also no offense," T.J. began, turning to Andros. "But are you… I mean, have you –?"

"Are you going to lose it like you did last time?" Carlos interrupted.

Andros lowered his eyes a moment, unsure of how to answer him. But he remembered his recent epiphany and locked eyes with Carlos. "If I do," he began, staring him down a little. "You'd better be prepared to stop me."

"Not to worry," Carlos muttered back.

"So, I'm guessing that Sadi isn't allowing temporary usage of our morphers until we return?" Zhane asked, stepping between them to ease the tension that continued to build.

"I'm thinking not… since she has yet to make an appearance," Ashley answered. "We probably shouldn't wait for her any longer."

"I agree," Zhane said. "In fact, you guys should go ahead and morph before we teleport to Kurakk."

"Let's rocket!"

Andros wished that he had been able to say it, but he recalled quickly enough that he lacked an Astromorpher and so left the morph call to T.J. He could not help looking over at Ashley after the transformation, taking comfort in knowing that it was her face behind the Yellow Astroranger helmet instead of Sadi's. He reached into his jacket pocket and grasped at the necklace she had given him, hoping that any luck that it brought him would be good. Not attacking the rangers would be a nice start.

"DECA, teleport us as close to the caves as possible," Zhane ordered when everyone was ready.

Andros closed his eyes as he and the others teleported, finally admitting that teleportation was uncomfortable and a little nauseating unless he was morphed. When he felt the gritty dirt of Kurakk under his feet a few seconds later, he was not surprised to open his eyes to complete darkness.

"Is everyone here?" Zhane's voice called out softly in the dark.

"I think so," T.J. replied just as softly. "You didn't mention needing flashlights."

"Too many wild animals," he heard Zhane whisper back. "We stay in the dark until we reach the caves."

"Why didn't DECA teleport us into the caves?" Carlos asked.

"Because we lose contact with the Megaship as we get closer to the caves," Andros answered. "Even if Astronema got here first, you can bet that she had to walk a little ways to get to the caves."

"So where are we headed?" Cassie asked.

"Straight ahead of us," Andros said, pointing though he knew that no one could see him. "That very dim light in front of us is the entrance to the Death Caves of Kurakk. Phantom Ranger put that there for himself when he first came here."

"Now, once we reach the end of the seemingly endless caves –" Zhane began.

"–if we aren't followed by wild animals or monsters on the way," Andros interjected, trying to ignore the low growls and howls that he heard around them.

"Right," Zhane said with a nod. "And if we get past the poisonous Narces flowers that Phantom Ranger warned us about, then all we have to do is hope that Astronema hasn't reached the Demon Sword of Kurakk before us."

"And if we make it to the sword, then we might be able to find a way back to the ship," Andros said.

"What do you mean, 'find a way back'?" Cassie asked. "Are we stuck here until we get the sword?"

"Kind of," Andros replied. "So we should probably be on our way, guys."

"Wait a second. How are you going to lead us in the right direction if you can't see?" Carlos hissed in the dark. "Even the nightvision in our helmets isn't helping much out here."

"It's a twenty minute walk on this path toward the light I just showed you," Andros said, wishing that he had not wasted so much energy doubting himself when he met the rangers. It was so much harder to rebuild trust than to tear it down. "You'll know if you stray from the path because it feels different than the rest of the ground. If we stay close together and keep on the path, we'll get to Phantom Ranger and the sword in time, trust me."

"We do," Ashley replied quickly, giving Carlos a nudge –at least, she hoped it was Carlos. "So let's go."

The rangers walked the gritty path that led them in a fairly straight line through the dark jungles of Kurakk. Nature seemed to be on their side one minute and against them in the next with cool winds pushing them in the direction of the cave followed by louder growls in front of them as their scent was blown toward the things that skittered through the vegetation around them. Something howled in the distance and seemed to charge at the nervous Astrorangers. A few seconds later, it howled again, sounding much closer than it had been and the rangers quickened their pace.

As they continued to walk silently, stepping on each other's heels, Andros put his hand into his pocket again to feel for Ashley's necklace. He could not quite explain his sudden attachment to it, but he supposed that it only served as a satisfactory surrogate for his locket. Maybe it was because of the luck that Ashley claimed that it had. But he also could not help wondering if he felt attached to it because it was hers.

Andros let out a sigh, hearing it echo a little as he continued to walk, a good sign. "We're right in front of the caves," he said softly.

There was no audible response from them, but Andros took the continuous shuffling of feet behind him as another good sign that they were at least all alive. Another five minutes passed before Andros decided that an actual response might calm his nerves a bit.

"Everyone still here?" he called out, no longer worried about whispering.

A loud crack sounded and Zhane's face appeared, lit by an orb of dim white light. He held it up and waited until the light grew brighter and lit the entire cave before answering. "We all seem to be," Zhane said.

"So, what are the chances that those animals out there could be throughout this cave?" Ashley asked nervously.

"Phantom Ranger assured us that they'll never walk more than two feet into these caves," Zhane replied, though Phantom Ranger had assured him of no such thing and he hoped that he would not be proven wrong. "Right now, we have to get through this part of the cave as fast as we can."

"Why?" T.J. asked.

Andros ran at T.J., pulling him out of the way as a large boulder fell where he had stood.

"That's why," Andros said, pointing at the now crumbling ceiling of the cave.

The ground began to shake violently as rocks of various sizes fell all around them and the rangers finally began to run through the cave, avoiding the barrage of boulders. The cave seemed to roar at them as each stone smashed to the ground and broke into smaller pieces as they tumbled off of the walls. The rangers continued to run through the cave, occasionally looking back to check on one another as they made their way through. Several minutes and two miles later, the rumbling in the caves stopped and the rangers slowed their steps again. They took a moment to catch their breaths, afraid to lean against anything in the hazardous caves.

"You didn't warn us about that," Carlos said.

"I told you to run," Zhane said with a shrug.

"Not much of a warning," he replied.

"Well, it's never happened before," Zhane said. "Phantom Ranger didn't tell us about this, so it must be new."

"Lucky us," Ashley sighed. "So, I guess that means that Astronema got here first."

"Maybe," Andros said distantly, looking around warily around him. His face was pale as he continued to look around at the hundreds of beautiful white flowers that lined the walls of the caves. "We should go."

"What's wrong?" T.J. asked, looking around and trying to see the problem.

"All these white flowers are Narces flowers," Zhane explained slowly, the worry in Andros' eyes mirrored in his own. "They eject poisonous needles at the slightest brush past them. You'll all be protected by your ranger suits but… Andros and I won't be."

"All you have to do is be careful, right?" Ashley asked. "And we can walk in front of you."

"No, no," Andros protested immediately. "Zhane and I have to walk in front."

"That doesn't make any sense," Carlos said. "We can protect you."

"I don't want protection," Andros replied, letting out a long breath as his nervousness left him in spite of the wind sounding a low whistle through the cave's open ceiling. "Let's just get this over with."

But Ashley placed a hand on his shoulder and he stopped in his tracks again.

"You're up to something," she said to him, glancing from him to Zhane. "What are you trying to do?"

"Please, Ashley," Andros said softly as he avoided eye contact and looked ahead of him to the white flowers that wallpapered the cave walls up ahead for at least twenty feet. "Just trust me, okay?"

"I trust you," she said, taking a step back from him. "Just be careful."

The rangers followed slowly behind Andros, staying as far from the cave walls as possible. Another cold wind blew through the cave ceiling and Andros held his breath as he watched a few Narces flowers nod in his direction.

"Maybe we should just try to run past these things," Carlos suggested.

"Running past won't work," Andros said with a sigh. "We just have to – ow!"

"What happened? What's wrong?" Zhane asked as Andros groaned lightly and looked down at himself.

Andros quickly pulled out the four dark needles sticking out of his thigh and tossed them to the ground, feeling his leg beginning to numb immediately. He squeezed at the tiny wounds, hoping to force some of the poison out, but they weren't deep enough to bleed.

"You okay?" Zhane asked, rushing to his side.

"I'm fine," Andros answered with a nod as two needles struck his arm from the left. "I'm still standing so let's keep moving."

"Andros, let us walk in front," Ashley said.

"I'm not going to die from these things, Ashley," Andros reassured her. "Let's just keep moving."

Andros continued past the Narces flowers, biting his lip as another set of needles broke the skin of his hand. It was just a little further, he thought to himself as his heart began to beat faster and his vision blurred. The poison was working faster than he thought and he tried to determine how much longer it would be before it pumped through his entire body. He squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again, hoping to reset them to the orb's light.

A few minutes passed before the rangers reached another entrance in the caves, far from the dangerous Narces flowers. They crowded around Andros who leaned against the bare cave wall trying to catch his breath. His eyes were closed and tiny droplets of sweat were beginning to form on his forehead.

"Did it work?" Zhane asked, kneeling by him.

"Did what work?" Carlos asked.

"I don't know if it worked," Andros said, moving his fingers until the numbness in them faded. "But I guess we'll find out in a little while."

"You want me to try the trigger?" Zhane asked somewhat nervously.

"We won't need to," Andros replied, pushing himself from the wall as the cave suddenly filled with the sound of quantrons. "Those guys always bring out the worst in me."


	26. Chapter 26

Ch 26

It did not take long for the sound of the quantrons to completely fill the cave and the rangers stood waiting for them, their blasters out of their holsters. But Zhane stepped in front of the others, motioning for them to stand back as he turned to watch Andros regain his footing and rush toward the quantrons.

"We aren't going to help him?" T.J. asked.

"Not yet," Zhane replied, watching Andros carefully. "Phantom Ranger assured us that Narces poison would help with his episodes of indiscriminant attacking."

"Indiscriminant?" Carlos asked. "Since when?"

"It's been a while now," Zhane replied. "At least a few episodes a day and he hasn't had one in the past few hours. But if he has another one it'll be right now."

"So how long before we interfere?" Ashley asked when Andros' eyes briefly glazed over as he looked over his shoulder and met her eyes. "The poison still makes him weak, doesn't it?"

"He's still on his feet," Zhane said. "As long as that's true, he'll fight. We interfere when it gets to be too much for him. But we wait until the last second."

The rangers watched as Andros fought against the quantrons, his moves not as fast as they had once seen them. But the quantrons continued to go down one-by-one as Andros gathered all of his strength, hoping that his arms and legs would continue to work as long as the quantrons came.

Phantom Ranger had explained that Narces poison would only work for him once it reached his brain, but there was no way to know for sure without testing it. They had expected that they might come upon some quantrons if Astronema had beaten them to Kurakk and luckily they could test their theory without mentioning the specific trigger. This time, if all went as planned, Andros would remember the trigger after the episode was over and might know why those specific memories were the trigger. And then perhaps the episodes would end altogether if Kio's words had been true.

Within moments, his body began to ache all over and his moves became more sluggish. He could barely keep his eyes open now as he struggled to flip a quantron onto its back. He was able to take a quick glance over at the others, who silently debated whether or not it was time to interfere. He attempted to give a signal that he was fine, but he failed to lift his arm. It was then that his eyes closed and he fell to his knees, the last dozen standing quantrons making their way toward him.

"Time to go in," Carlos said, rushing past Zhane and stopping only when the group of quantrons that had surrounded Andros all went flying backward to the ground without being touched.

Andros' eyes opened suddenly, his eyes fixing on the quantrons that had managed to get back onto their feet.

"Andros, are you okay?" Zhane asked nervously.

He nodded in response, feeling some of his strength returning to him as he got to his feet. His expression was far from blank, the anger and frustration of the past two years written all over his face. He lunged at the quantrons that dared to strike first, sending them all back to the ground in a few short moves before motioning for the others to follow him away from the quantrons and deeper into the caves.

"Are you really okay?" Zhane asked after catching up to him.

"Never better," Andros replied flatly, looking away from him.

"Then, what's the matter?" Ashley asked. "Aren't you happy that you didn't hurt anyone?"

"Of course," Andros answered. "But this won't last... maybe for just a few hours or so. And I'm not sure what'll happen after it wears off. It might be worse next time or it might happen more often than before."

"Do you at least remember anything?" Zhane asked.

"Yes," he said, his head seeming to sink lower as they continued to walk. "I remember."

"Well, what is it?" Zhane asked. "Do you remember the trigger? If we address it directly, then we might be able to stop the attacks for good without having to poison you every day with Narces flowers."

"No," Andros replied softly. "We can talk about it later… after we get the sword. We'll have the rest of our lives to discuss it if Astronema gets the sword first or if we get trapped in here."

He could feel the others staring at him as he took the lead again, just hoping that he might take a moment to explain anyway. But he did not and could not tell them all that he had suddenly remembered, not yet anyway. It was distracting enough having to worry about Astronema and her minions. The other rangers needed no new distractions and he doubted that they would be able to handle them if they came. The cave was going to get more difficult and he had forgotten to warn them of the last trial before getting to the sword.

But he could not just ignore the memories that flooded his mind, the images strong as they were when they first occurred. He could feel Ashley still staring at him as a tear ran down his cheek and he eventually turned his head to her.

"Ashley," he began with a sigh. "Please get out of my head."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I don't think you're doing it on purpose but you _are_ doing it," he said. "And I don't have the strength to block out your questions."

"I'm… sorry," Ashley replied as Andros turned away from her again.

Andros shook his head lightly before continuing ahead. "It's fine," he said. "Like I said, I know you aren't doing it on purpose."

They continued silently ahead through the cold, damp caves. After a few hundred feet, a small gust of warm air blew past them, dispersing the moist air that surrounded them. More warm air filled the caves as they walked and Ashley looked up at the cave ceiling, surprised that it was steadily becoming humid without the caves being covered overhead.

"We're almost there, guys," Zhane said, jogging past them and catching up to Andros. "Did we by any chance mention the last obstacle to these guys?"

Andros shook his head and stopped in his tracks. "Okay, everyone," he began. "Um, in the next few minutes, we'll be entering the last cave. The Demon Sword of Kurakk should be there waiting for us."

"What if Astronema's already gotten there first?" T.J. asked. "Does that mean that we're trapped?"

"Try your communicator," Zhane said. "If it works, then that means that Astronema has the sword and we can actually teleport out of here. If not, we're here until someone gets the sword."

T.J. lifted his arm and pressed a button on his morpher, speaking into it. "DECA, Alpha, come in," he said. But all that answered back was static.

"So that's a good sign, isn't it?" Cassie asked.

"Best news I've heard all day," Zhane replied with a sigh. "And what we have to deal with next is going to be a challenge."

"The Dolo-Uham Nir monster," Andros said. "The cave cloaks the sword so that we won't be able to see it. And the Dolo-Uham Nir will manipulate our senses so that if we _do_ see it, we won't be able to get to it."

"It's just a monster though, right?" Carlos asked with a shrug.

"_Indestructible_ monster," Andros corrected. "I'm sure that it can be defeated, but…"

"You don't know how?" Ashley finished.

"Unfortunately, I don't," Andros replied, feeling their immediate depression upon his answer. "But I don't expect that it's anything we can't handle. It'll be difficult, but you guys are strong enough to deal with this thing."

The rangers nodded as Andros continued to walk toward the growing warmth in the cave. Finally, they came upon a dead end and Andros motioned for them to stand behind him before facing the wall.

"Allow us entry into the caves of the Dolo-Uham Nir," Andros called out to seemingly no one.

"What is it that you seek?" a deep voice boomed in response, causing the walls and ground to shake.

"We are protectors of the Demon Sword of Kurakk –the Astrorangers," Andros replied.

"The Phantom Ranger protects the Demon Sword of Kurakk," the cave said.

"Yes and there are intruders in your caves after the sword," Zhane replied. "Too many for Phantom Ranger to stop, so he specifically sent for us."

"It matters not to me that the sword is taken, nor does it matter who possesses it," the cave bellowed back. "In the end, the sword will possess and destroy any that dare to use its power."

"It matters to us," T.J. said, stepping forward. "We're the Power Rangers and –"

"You're humans," it interrupted. "You are prone to weaknesses even with your artificial powers."

"What can we do to prove our worth to you?" Andros asked.

The cave was briefly silent. "If you are able to defeat the Dolo-Uham Nir and retrieve the Demon Sword of Kurakk, then I will require the Spiral Saber of the Red Astroranger to keep in its place."

"Agreed," Andros said immediately, though he had a feeling that there was another reason for needing his weapon that the cave likely would not divulge to them.

"Andros, what are you doing?" Carlos asked. "You can't give up your weapon. You won't be able to –"

"It's not doing much good to me right now," Andros said. "And it's not my only weapon."

"But when you get your morpher back –" Ashley protested.

"_If _I get it back," Andros said with a sigh. "And who knows how long that'll be? Now let's go. I'll deal with the consequences later. But we have to get in there before Astronema gets the sword first."

"I can assure you that the human that entered before you is no closer to the sword than you are now," the cave said with an evil laugh. "She has been wandering inside for quite some time. But you may enter just the same."

The wall of the cave slid up to reveal the opening of the last cave. The rangers held their breaths as they filed into the cave, keeping a lookout for Astronema and anymore of her henchmen. But as they walked further inside, they saw nothing around them save for a few rocks and more dirt.

"Should we split up?" Zhane asked.

"Maybe we should," Andros answered. "Just remember that the Dolo-Uham Nir controls what we can see, including the sword. If you see the sword, take it if you can and teleport immediately to the Megaship. Do not hesitate."

The rangers nodded in agreement before moving in separate directions, each of them curious as to what images the Dolo-Uham Nir might deceive them with.

-0-0-0-0-

T.J. and Carlos walked slowly toward the west end of the caves, having decided amongst themselves long ago that they would stick together in the event that Andros or Zhane suggested splitting up to look for the sword. Not long after they separated from the others, they looked back and found themselves in the cave alone.

"So, what do you think about all of this?" Carlos asked.

"I think that Andros has probably gotten more dangerous since he left if his attacks have been indiscriminant," T.J. replied. "I think that we're trapped in a cave with an indestructible monster that won't even let us see the sword we're after. Other than that, I don't know what else to think right now."

"You still trust him?"

T.J. shrugged. "I'm trying. You?"

"I want to," Carlos said. "But we're still too much in the dark about everything. Andros and Zhane came into this cave knowing more than us based on what was likely a ten or fifteen minute conversation with Phantom Ranger. We talked to Phantom Ranger too, so why is it that we got no information about the caves and they got a complete walkthrough?"

"I completely agree," they heard from behind them, finding Andros standing a few feet away.

"I thought we were splitting up," Carlos said to him.

"We are," Andros replied. "But I heard something coming from your way and I thought that I should check it out with you."

"What did you hear?" T.J. asked as Andros took the lead and continued slowly ahead.

"I'm not sure," Andros answered. "But I doubt that you'd trust my answer anyway."

T.J. and Carlos froze momentarily, looking to Andros who turned to face them.

"Andros, it isn't that we don't trust you exactly," T.J. began with a sigh. "But we don't know enough about you or what's going on with this prophecy to…"

"To trust me," Andros finished. "It's okay. I understand. As I've said before, you have no reason to trust me and I don't blame you for it. In fact, you're right not to trust me."

"Why's that?" Carlos asked, watching Andros smile a little before glancing behind them.

They turned around, finding the other rangers lying on the ground. T.J. and Carlos looked at one another before turning back to Andros, their fists clenched in anger as they stared him down for a moment.

"This ends right now," Carlos said through gritted teeth.

"I do like a challenge," Andros replied as the rangers came rushing toward him.

-0-0-0-0-

Cassie immediately regretted the decision to split with the other rangers as she headed toward the south end of the caves. The cave seemed to grow darker with every step she took, and her footsteps echoed throughout the cave with every step. Nothing had ever felt so eerie to her before and a chill went down her spine as she turned back to find herself alone in the cave. As much as she tried to tell herself that it was only the Dolo-Uham Nir monster controlling what she saw and playing off of her fears, she still felt a sense of dread wash over her as she walked.

A loud thud a few feet ahead made her jump suddenly and she hurried toward it, catching something move from the corner of her eye.

"Phantom Ranger?" she inquired of the figure that stood motionless in the shadows. "Phantom Ranger, is that you?"

With a sigh, Phantom Ranger walked slowly toward her, his balance slightly off as he limped to her. Cassie ran to him, catching him as his foot slipped and he fell forward.

"What happened?" Cassie asked. "Did Astronema get the sword?"

"No, but she sent plenty of monsters and quantrons to keep me busy," he replied. "There were just too many of them."

"Are you able to see the sword?" Cassie asked. "The sooner we find it, the sooner we can get you out of here."

"As its appointed protector, I am always able to see the sword," Phantom Ranger said with a nod. "But without destroying the Dolo-Uham Nir, I'm afraid that we're all trapped."

"The Dolo-Uham Nir isn't the monster that did this to you?" Cassie asked somewhat nervously.

"It cannot sense my presence since I am joining it in protecting the sword," Phantom Ranger answered. "But it will sense you and the other rangers."

"Well, what about Astronema?" Cassie asked. "Is she still here?"

"Yes," he said distantly as a large group of quantrons began to surround them on all sides and the ground shook violently with the footsteps of something large that sounded closer and closer.

"Dolo-Uham Nir?" Cassie asked Phantom Ranger as she looked around for the other rangers.

He nodded. "I'm afraid so," he said. "And I don't know how much longer I'll last."

"You'll be okay," Cassie said as he stood up straighter.

"Perhaps," Phantom Ranger replied. "But if not, I need to tell you that I… I love –"

"You'll be fine," Cassie interrupted. "In an hour or so, you can tell me face-to-face. But we have to take care of these guys first. So just… hold on."

"Yes," Phantom Ranger said softly. "There will be plenty of time for talking later."

"That's right," Cassie said as the quantrons began to close in on them. "Plenty of time."

-0-0-0-0-

"Hey, Andros," Zhane called as Andros began walking toward the north end of the caves. "How'd you send all those quantrons flying back like that when we were in the other caves?"

"Telekinesis, Zhane," Andros replied with a sigh. "You know that."

"Yeah, but you've never used it in a fight before," Zhane said. "And you've never been able to focus your energy that well before."

"I just pushed everything else out of my mind," Andros said with a shrug. "Now let's just get to the sword and get out of here."

"So, you're not even going to tell me what you remember about the trigger memory?"

"I told you that we'd talk about it later," Andros hissed at him. "Just drop it until we get back to the ship."

"Fine," Zhane said. "We'll find the –"

Zhane stopped suddenly when he noticed the bright glow of something to his left and turned to it. Several feet away stood the sword, plunged deeply into the ground showing only its hilt.

"There it is," Andros said softly. "The Demon Sword of Kurakk."

"But why would it be right in front of us like this?" Zhane wondered aloud. "Shouldn't the monster be shielding this from our view?"

"Maybe the cave was lying," Andros said, starting toward the sword.

"I don't think so," Zhane said, pulling Andros back. "The cave wouldn't lie. Maybe the _sword_ is the lie."

"Well, there's only one way to find out," Andros said, walking up to the sword and grabbing onto its hilt.

"Andros, wait," Zhane called to him just as Andros successfully pulled the weapon from the ground and held it tightly in his hands. "You have to put down the sword, Andros," he said, moving cautiously toward him.

Andros looked down at the sword that glowed brighter in his hands with every passing minute, watching as his own body began to take on a glow of its own. "I can feel its power," he said as he closed his eyes. "I can feel it flowing through my body."

"The sword is probably taking your energy," Zhane said. "Its power lasts as long as your life energy does and the Oracle told you that you would –"

"So what?" Andros said, opening his eyes and glaring at Zhane. "Would you rather that Dark Specter or Astronema get the sword instead?"

"No one is going to have the sword," Zhane said. "We're only taking it to keep it away from anyone that wants to use it. We can't use it ourselves."

"You don't seem to understand what we have, Zhane," Andros said, slowly making his way to Zhane again. "We have unlimited and unadulterated power at our fingertips. With this weapon, the prophecy begins and we can take down all of our enemies. We can be rid of our morphers forever and live out the rest of our lives in peace."

"If you don't put down that weapon, there won't be anything left of your life to live," Zhane said, holding out his hand for it. "Now drop the sword and I'll get one of the others to teleport it to the ship."

Andros looked from Zhane to the sword in his hands and back again. "You won't take this from me," Andros said, gripping it even tighter. "I'll see you destroyed first."

Zhane reached into his pocket, silently cursing as he withdrew his hand upon finding nothing. No morpher right now, not even a weapon of his own. No way to protect himself against a demon sword and his power-hungry possessed friend.

"With or without powers, I can't let you leave with that sword," Zhane said, locking eyes with Andros and stepping toward him. "You'll have to destroy me first."

"Not an issue," Andros replied, charging at Zhane with his weapon raised.

-0-0-0-0-

Andros took a deep breath and walked toward the East end of the cave, already seeing the sword embedded in a wall a few feet ahead of him. He glanced back at the others, having heard them all speaking at some point or another and wondering if he should check on them. He thought at one moment that Zhane had called out to him and the T.J. and Carlos had mentioned his name just after they separated, but whenever he turned to talk to them, they would grow quiet again and Andros would continue toward the sword.

"Can you see it?" a voice asked that made him jump.

He had almost forgotten that Ashley was there. "I see it," he answered when he found his voice again. "You'll have to be the one to take it."

"Right," she replied with a nod, walking next to him to the sword. She reached out for it, stopping when she realized that he was not beside her anymore. "Andros?"

"It was an accident," he said, facing no one as he spoke. "I didn't mean for you to –"

Ashley watched as he backed away slowly, ducking an invisible blow. She was able to see his eyes as he defended himself against whatever had begun to fight him, but his eyes were not glazed over, only firmly fixed on whatever was attacking him.

"Aeden, wait!" Andros called out as he continued to avoid punches and kicks that Ashley could not see. "It was an accident, I swear."

Ashley began walking to him, looking around for Zhane and finding him also fighting something that she could not see. It had to be the Dolo-Uham Nir. It was manipulating their senses, though not hers for some reason.

"Yellow Ranger," a familiar deep voice called eerily to her. "Truly you are the most pathetic of the Astrorangers."

Ashley looked around, finding nothing except the sword. It was a demon sword, she recalled quickly, and might have the ability to communicate. But she questioned whether or not to respond to it.

"Surely you aren't stupid enough to take the Demon Sword of Kurakk into your hands and expect to live?" it asked with an evil laugh that Ashley recognized.

She made a beeline for the sword, making a grab for it just as a powerful bolt of energy struck her. Suddenly the cave filled with quantrons just as Darkonda jumped out and took hold of the sword.

"I'd hoped for more of a challenge," he said with a laugh. "And as usual, I didn't get a chance to battle all of you together."

Ashley got to her feet and looked to Andros, who continued to speak to his unknown attacker.

"I don't think that I can ever find a way to thank you and your friends enough for helping me to get through the caves," Darkonda said, coming at her with the sword. "But I'll find a way."


	27. Chapter 27

Ch 27

"Drop the sword, Darkonda," Ashley said, slowly reaching for her Astroblaster.

"Let's see you try to make me," Darkonda said with a laugh as the quantrons around him started toward Ashley. Darkonda's eyes glowed and he sent out a powerful energy blast from them, sending all of the quantrons down.

"This is _my_ fight," Darkonda said. "I won't have Astronema's toy soldiers interfere again."

Ashley quickly withdrew her blaster, squeezing off a few shots at Darkonda as he lifted the Demon Sword of Kurakk. It acted as a shield, deflecting the blasts back at her, the energy more violent on its return. She went down, calling on her Star Slinger and hesitating briefly before firing, waiting for Darkonda to display any type of offense. But he stood waiting for her next move, the permanent smile in his face seeming to grow wider as she raised her weapon.

Finally she fired, not surprised when her blasts were deflected once again. As long as the sword remained in his hands, he would be protected and she alone was the only thing standing between him and an easy escape. He could destroy her with one swing of the sword, yet he did not. He only stood waiting… He _was_ waiting, she realized suddenly. Darkonda was waiting for the others, waiting for the Red and Silver Astrorangers –the rangers that he had not battled yet. It was why he would not attack for longer than a few minutes and why he never destroyed them whenever he had the opportunity. He wanted a _real_ fight with all of the rangers as he had since they had met him.

Ashley looked down at her Star Slinger, not wanting to know what it might feel like to have its blasts in Booster Mode sent back at her. The only way to stop him would be to attack him with a weapon more powerful than the Demon Sword of Kurakk. The only weapon that she knew of that might come close was the Quadroblaster but the other rangers were tied up with their hallucinations at the moment. Unless maybe she could…

Ashley rolled her eyes at the thought, wishing that the idea had come from anyone except… _her_. Maybe Sadi was helpful in their mission after all, or rather her training might be. Ashley lifted her Star Slinger and focused on the energy that she had seen released from it so many times before. She held the sling steady, watching the yellow ball of energy that was usually the size of a golf ball grow to that of a basketball. In it, she focused all of her frustration –of fighting alone, of seeing that smile on Darkonda's face, of seeing the sword in his hand. At last, she released it, the large sphere of energy striking Darkonda hard as he attempted to protect himself with the Demon Sword of Kurakk. But it failed and he was immediately brought down.

Ashley looked down at him, seeing his struggle to get to his feet and she pulled at the sword that remained tightly gripped in his hand. On contact, Ashley felt the energy rush from her body and she immediately released it, determining that she would need the others.

Just as she turned to them, she heard Cassie make a sound behind her, her eyes widening when she saw the huge thing that towered over Cassie and Phantom Ranger. It could only be the Dolo-Uham Nir. As she let out a gasp, the monster craned its long snake-like neck and growled at the Yellow Ranger that had managed to escape its illusions. It began moving toward her and she stepped back, looking around her at the other rangers who were still preoccupied with their respective hallucinations.

Ashley took a deep breath and concentrated, pulling back the sling on her Star Slinger as she aimed it at the Dolo-Uham Nir. If it caused the illusions, then weakening it might help the others. She released the sling, sending the large sphere of energy at the monster, causing it to screech loudly either out of pain or anger. But she did not wait for it to react again, firing the Star Slinger again, watching the other rangers carefully. A moment passed before Ashley saw their heads turn to her and she ran quickly over to them.

"What happened?" T.J. asked, shaking his head.

"Darkonda has the Demon Sword of Kurakk," Ashley answered, glancing over her shoulder to find Darkonda surrounded by quantrons again. "And Cassie and Phantom Ranger are fighting the Dolo-Uham Nir."

Andros looked behind him to Darkonda, narrowing his eyes when his eyes rested on the Demon Sword of Kurakk in his hands. Wandering through the swarm of quantrons was a young woman with purple hair, who gripped her staff in her hands angrily, a woman that he could only assume was Astronema.

"We can't really deal with them now," Ashley said, handing Andros her blaster. "Dolo-Uham Nir monster in the other direction."

"Right," Andros said with a nod, focusing on the matter at hand as he took Carlos' blaster from its holster and handed it to Zhane. "Did Sadi teach you guys anything new?"

"Yeah," Carlos replied. "Why?"

"When Cassie and Phantom Ranger are clear, combine your weapons into the Quadroblaster and focus all of its energy into as large a blast as you can for as long as you can," Andros answered. "Phantom Ranger, Zhane, and I will distract it while you concentrate."

"Right," the rangers said in agreement, rushing to Cassie and Phantom Ranger who had both been brought to their knees by the Dolo-Uham Nir. Just as it opened its massive jaws to devour them, Carlos used his Lunar Lance to push the monster back. It growled in response and lunged at the Black Ranger but a barrage of blasts from Andros and Zhane held it back from him, allowing him to pull Phantom Ranger and Cassie away from it.

The rest of the rangers gathered before the shrieking Dolo-Uham Nir, combining their weapons while Phantom Ranger used his Phantom laser to fire at it along with Andros' and Zhane's Astroblaster attacks. Andros glanced over his shoulder at Darkonda, who was easily disposing of the quantrons and had begun to fight Astronema, who more than held her own against him even when he used the Demon Sword of Kurakk. He wondered if he might be able to leave the rangers to fight the Dolo-Uham Nir alone while he went after the sword. But even if Andros were able to shoot the sword from Darkonda's hand where he stood, he would have to get the sword before Astronema could and he could not fight her and her quantrons alone.

Andros turned back to the Dolo-Uham Nir as the cave began to shake with the power of the blast that the rangers gathered into the Quadroblaster and they finally released it in one massive explosion of energy. When the dust cleared, all that was left were the echoes of the Dolo-Uham Nir's roars. The rangers quickly turned their attention to Darkonda with Andros taking a far lead ahead of them.

"Andros, watch out," Ashley called to him as a purple lightning attack sent him staggering back. The rangers caught up with him as Andros got back to his feet and stood face-to-face with Astronema and her Wrath Staff.

"I don't think that we've been properly introduced yet, Red Ranger," Astronema said, walking up to him with a smile.

"I know who you are," Andros replied. "And you obviously know who I am, so what happens now?"

"The Cromians were right –a fast tongue indeed," Astronema said. "I can imagine that you would have given them quite some trouble if they hadn't so quickly made you their silent little pet."

Andros frowned. "What do _you_ know about the Cromians?"

"I know enough," she answered. "I know about all of the things that you did on Omni-8 from Darkonda. He never missed one of your kills."

"Save it, Astronema," Zhane said, stepping forward. "Andros didn't kill anyone on Omni-8. We figured that out for ourselves. And even if he did, we wouldn't just abandon him because of something like that."

"Not even when he's responsible for the deaths of two of your fellow rangers?" Astronema asked, watching Andros' eyes cloud over in fear before he began staring her down angrily. "I thought that they were supposed to be your friends."

"I didn't kill anyone," Andros said firmly, narrowing his eyes at her. "That might have worked on me a few days ago, but I remember everything now and I didn't kill anyone. Dark Specter's velocifighters are the reason that my friends aren't here right now. And I wouldn't bring it up again if I were you."

"Well, that's too bad then," Astronema said with a smile. "Because I've been waiting for a while now to congratulate my big brother on his first kill."

Andros stared at her in silence, the whole cave seeming to empty as his mind closed out all sounds. She had said 'big brother', he was almost certain of that. There were not many combinations of any other words that she could have said that would have made sense. She definitely said 'big brother'.

"What did you call me?" he asked softly through clenched teeth.

"Big brother," she said again, opening the locket that hung from around her neck.

Andros stood frozen before the tiny pictures of himself and his sister as children. He closed his eyes, the memories of the tiny girl that had been taken from him coming to him in flashes. The happiness on her face that quickly turned to fear, the screams that echoed in the park –it was all there and the only thing that he could hear at the moment. When he opened his eyes again, her words still lingered and she was still silent, smiling at him with all the evil and smugness of her last words to him.

"Did you miss me, brother?" she asked him, walking closer to him as he locked eyes with him again.

Andros growled and let out a deep breath, attempting to control the unbridled anger that grew within him, staring angrily at the locket and its wearer, finally grabbing it and pulling Astronema violently to him and nearly choking her with it.

"You are _not_ my sister," he fumed, gripping the locket tighter as his eyes dared her to say it again. And she dared not say it again as she struggled to swallow against the locket's chain around her neck.

"Andros let her go," Zhane commanded, though his voice was just barely audible to Andros.

"You have a lot of nerve using the memory of my sister in your little plan," Andros said to her, a fear in her eyes beginning to grow. "_My _sister! Where did you get it?"

Astronema attempted to use her staff, but it was wedged between her and Andros' body and she was unable to free her hand.

"Answer me!" Andros shouted. "Where did you get this locket?"

"My father gave it to me," Astronema managed to answer though her throat burned as she did. "When I was a little girl, he… gave one to me and my older brothers."

"You're lying," he said, shaking his head slowly. "You're lying…"

"Darkonda was the one that took me from you that day," she continued as she watched his eyes fill with tears. "And all I could do was scream for you."

"Shut up," Andros cried, his voice breaking as a few tears escaped his eyes.

"But you didn't help me," she said softly, focusing enough to summon some of her own power in her hands to send a powerful electric current through his body. "And now here I am… the product of monsters… because of you."

The voltage brought Andros to his knees before he finally recovered and aimed the Astroblaster in his other hand at her. But Astronema's staff lay steady at his throat as they stared one another down.

"If you really wanted to kill me, you'd have done it by now," he said when his hand started to shake.

"I was thinking the same thing about you," Astronema replied, the same unsteadiness setting in. "But the prophecy does mention two _siblings_ of mixed blood…"

"That wouldn't apply to us," Andros said. "You're not my sister and you never were." He glanced back briefly at the other rangers, who had all frozen behind him, silently watching his reaction to everything that she said and did. "Why aren't you going after Darkonda?" he asked them. "We're here for the sword, remember?"

"You'll never get it," Astronema said, getting his attention again.

"Well, neither will you," Andros retorted.

All except Zhane went after Darkonda, who had grown tired of the quantrons and had started toward the rangers with the Demon Sword of Kurakk still held firmly in his hands. Zhane slowly walked up to her, staring at her for the first time since he had met her, _really_ looking at her. He knew that he had seen features like hers before but he did not remember where. She did look like Andros a little, but only a little as they shared a similar scowl.

"You really are Karone," Zhane gasped softly, receiving an acknowledging glance from Astronema.

"No, she isn't," Andros said, growing frustrated by the way that Zhane stared at her –as if she really was Karone. "She just wants to distract us from getting the sword."

Astronema narrowed her eyes at him, firing a blast at Andros from her staff, who rolled away from the attack. By the time Andros turned back to where she had stood, she and her quantrons had disappeared from the cave.

"The Dolo-Uham Nir has been defeated and the Demon Sword of Kurakk has been retrieved," the cave bellowed. "Do not forget our bargain, Red Ranger."

"But we weren't the ones that retrieved it," Carlos protested. "We shouldn't owe you anything."

"Insolent humans," the cave replied as the ceiling began to crumble above them.

"Carlos, it's fine," Andros said distantly, unable to react to the boulders that had fallen around him. "You should be able to teleport back to the ship now that the sword is gone… My Spiral Saber should still be in the workbay next to my Galaxy Glider. I'll just… stay here."

"He's right," Zhane said with a sigh. "The sooner you get the Spiral Saber, the sooner we can leave this place."

With a nod, the rangers teleported from the cave, leaving Andros and Zhane behind. Once they had gone, Andros wandered aimlessly toward the wall where the Demon Sword of Kurakk had been.

They had failed, he thought, shaking his head to himself. Darkonda had taken the weapon right from under them so easily. And Astronema… She would pay for everything that she had said to him, for what she had done to him. How dare she defile the memory of his little sister for sport as though Karone could ever become anything as vile as Astronema. Yes, she would definitely pay for everything that she had said.

"You really don't believe her?" Zhane asked after briefly scanning Andros' thoughts.

Andros turned sharply to him. "What kind of question is that?" he snapped. "Of course I don't. You don't think that I'd know my own sister if I saw her? I don't understand how _you_ could believe her."

"Andros, she had the locket," Zhane pointed out. "A locket that has the same photos in it that yours does. How can you even explain that?"

"It could be a fake," Andros replied with a shrug, though his expression was one of doubt.

"A fake?" Zhane questioned. "Andros, she would be the right age. She… she even looks like your mom. How can you just dismiss that?"

"She's _evil_," Andros exclaimed angrily. "She's a liar by default. So, I'll ask you again, why do you believe her?"

"Because it makes sense," Zhane said. "You already knew that Darkonda was the one that took Karone –"

"Yes, exactly," Andros interrupted. "Darkonda knew about Karone's kidnapping because he's the one who did it. All he had to do was tell her how it happened and she could parrot it back to me as if it was her own memory."

"She couldn't have faked the pictures in that locket, Andros," Zhane yelled.

"Maybe not," Andros agreed. "Maybe it's Karone's locket… She could have stolen it from the real Karone and –"

"Andros, she _is _the real Karone!" Zhane replied. "Stop hiding behind all these excuses."

Andros let out a long breath, hoping that his increasing frustration would flow out with it before he spoke. "And what if the pictures _were_ real?" he asked, putting his hands into his pockets. "What if she _is_ Karone? We'll go easier on her because I'm related to her? Well, I don't remember my 'sister' being any easier on me when she sent that shock through my body."

"If you were strangling me, I wouldn't go easy on you either," Zhane said, rolling his eyes.

"Zhane, you can't deny that she was trying to distract us with that," Andros argued. "You can't… She said it because she wanted a reaction from me just like Ecliptor did when he and the quantrons attacked us on Eltar. You told me that he wanted to verify the style of fighting that I was using."

"Something like that," Zhane said.

"Yeah, well it's the same thing," he continued. "Astronema probably knows about the triggering memories and everything else, so she said that she was Karone to trigger an episode."

"Well, she definitely got one," Zhane replied. "When she called you a killer, I thought that you were going to make an honest woman out of her."

"I almost did," Andros said quietly as he wiped away a tear that made its way down his face in defiance of the mood he forced to the surface. It was not supposed to be sadness. It was not even supposed to be guilt. And yet his body continued to rebel against his heart as more tears began to fall.

"I'd know my own sister if I saw her," he said over the lump in his throat as he fell to his knees. "I'd know my own sister…"


	28. Chapter 28

Ch 28

Everything seemed to be different ever since they had left Kurakk. The look on Andros' face when Cassie had appeared in the cave with his Spiral Saber had been one of utter sadness and regret that quickly turned to anger when the cave requested that Andros be the one to place the Spiral Saber in the same spot that the Demon Sword of Kurakk had been. But Andros had silently complied, taking his time as he made his way to the opposite side of the cave to put down the weapon that he had fought with for years.

As soon as the Spiral Saber touched the cave, a strange energy shot out from it, the entire cave pulsating with the new energy it created. But nothing of significance occurred thereafter and the rangers teleported from Kurakk, their debt to the cave paid in full.

Andros had remained silent even after returning to the Megaship, ignoring Sadi's callous words to him and walking right past her and the other rangers to wait for Zhane and Phantom Ranger in the ship's space hatch. Zhane and Sadi had argued about whatever inappropriate thing Sadi had said to Andros, though mostly about Zhane and Andros being anywhere on the Megaship other than the space hatch. It was not long before Zhane gave up on the conversation and went to the infirmary to check on Phantom Ranger.

Now Cassie stood by the Megalift, having just stopped pacing back and forth from the bridge to the Megalift's doors. She impatiently waited for Zhane's return, feeling guilty that in spite of everything that she had learned that day about Andros' innocence, Astronema's claim of being his sister, and even knowing that Darkonda had the Demon Sword of Kurakk, her mind was focused on Phantom Ranger. She wondered if he was really okay and if she should have been there with him. But she wondered even more about whether he would honor his promise to show her his face.

"You're in love with him," Sadi said suddenly, walking up behind Cassie from the bridge. "That's really cute, Cassie."

"Him?" Cassie asked, turning to her. "Who's 'him'?"

"Phantom Ranger, of course," Sadi replied with a smile. "I actually don't blame you. He's smart, strong, incredibly handsome –"

"You've seen his face?" Cassie asked.

"Haven't _you_?" she asked, still smiling. "I mean, he shows his face to anyone that he really cares about. So you must have seen it by now, right?"

Cassie lowered her eyes, knowing that even that was enough of a response for Sadi.

"You haven't," Sadi said. "That's okay. You might not feel the same way after you see his face anyway."

"I'm not as shallow as you might think," Cassie replied. "I don't care what he looks like. In fact, he doesn't have to ever show me his face if he doesn't want to. I _know_ that he cares about me."

"Is that why you're pacing back and forth up here, because you're worried about his health?" Sadi scoffed. "Of course you care what he looks like. And I can't judge you for that. I mean, he could have a long lizard tail and sharp teeth for all you know. It isn't shallow to worry about whether or not he's a monster."

"I _am_ worried about him," Cassie argued. "He was hurt pretty badly back there. Astronema had him outnumbered."

"He's the Phantom Ranger," Sadi said with a sigh. "He'll live." She turned to walk away then, but stopped suddenly as another smile crept across her face.

"So what will you do?" Sadi asked.

"About what?" Cassie inquired, already regretting it.

"What will you do if Phantom Ranger isn't quite as handsome as you hoped?" Sadi asked. "If he's as in love with you as you are with him and you can't look at him without cringing, what will you do?"

"I told you that I don't care what he looks like," Cassie said. "Besides, you just said a minute ago that he was handsome."

"I lied," Sadi admitted. "I've never seen his face. I told you that he only shows it to people that he cares about."

"Immediately eliminating you," Cassie said with a nod. "I should have known."

"I just wanted you to see how shallow you really are no matter how many times you feed yourself and everyone else that line about not caring about looks," Sadi said with a shrug. "I hate when people lie to themselves… But I know for sure that he's half-human like me and Andros. So, I'd look for claws and maybe that lizard tail I was telling you about."

"_You_ don't look like that," Cassie pointed out. "And neither does Andros."

"Well, I don't know about Andros, but who's to say that I always look like this?" Sadi asked with a wink as she headed to the bridge. "So if I were you, I'd go to Phantom Ranger and demand to see what he looks like… before you're in too deep. Don't forget that monsters know how to say pretty words too."

"He's not a monster," Cassie called after her.

"Who's not a monster?" Zhane asked as the Megalift doors opened.

"How is he?" Cassie asked instead, looking for the answer on Zhane's worried expression.

"He's fine," Zhane answered. "He's a little bruised and scraped, but he'll be okay… And he's been asking to see you for the past half-hour."

Cassie's eyes' lit up. "Really?" she asked. "He really asked for me?"

Zhane nodded. "He seems to really like you…But I want to ask you something before you see him, if you don't mind."

"Sure," Cassie shrugged. "What is it?"

"You like him, right?" Zhane asked. "I mean, you like him the way that he likes you, don't you?"

"I don't know exactly how he feels about me," Cassie answered honestly. "But I _do_ like him… it's even possible that I love him. Why?"

"I just wanted it on record before you see him," Zhane said. "I don't want you to forget that you said it out loud."

"Is there something wrong with him?" Cassie asked. "Even Sadi seems to think that I won't like him after I see his face."

"I'm not worried that you won't like his face," Zhane said. "I'm worried that it'll be all you see."

"What else is there to see?" Cassie asked, frustration creeping into her voice.

"That he's the Phantom Ranger," Zhane said. "And he may never be anything else except just that. And I saw the look in your eyes when he showed up to get us. I saw on your face how long it had been since you'd last seen him. And it could be that way for a long time. There may be times that you won't see him for several months to a year and if you two are in love…"

"Then we'll be in love when we're apart and more in love when we're together again," Cassie said. "I can wait for him, Zhane. I've been in a long distance relationship before. I know how hard it is to stay together, but I wasn't in love then… I am now."

Zhane smiled. "That's all I wanted to hear," he said. "Now go see him already."

Cassie smiled a little as she walked into the Megalift, letting out a long breath that shook with nervousness.

"Stop worrying," Zhane said. "Just rel –"

"Zhane," Sadi called from the bridge. "If you want to talk, let's talk! I have things to do."

"Fine," Zhane called back to her, rolling his eyes as Cassie disappeared behind the Megalift doors. "Let's talk."

-0-0-0-0-

Cassie took her time getting to the infirmary, wondering how worried she should be.

She really did not care what he looked like… at least not much. Looks were not important –it was what he was like on the inside that counted, she recited silently to herself. And she knew it was true. As long as she knew that he really cared for her, it did not matter what he looked like.

She stood at the doorway of the infirmary, carefully peeking into the room. Not surprisingly, he was still morphed, sitting on the edge of the examination table. Though his face was hidden, she could see that he was nervous as he tapped his fingers by his side and Cassie smiled.

She softly knocked on the wall before entering the room, hearing him wince as he slid from the table to greet her. But she hurried over to him before he could take another step.

"Should you be on your feet yet?" she asked him as he straightened his posture with a groan of pain.

"I'll be okay," he replied. "You weren't hurt, were you?"

"I think I'm okay too," she answered with a nod.

Phantom Ranger shook his head to himself. "Of course you're all right," he said. "You're standing right in front of me and I can see that. The question made more sense in my head and I just… It's just that I -"

"You didn't know what to say?" Cassie suggested with a smile and he nodded. "I know the feeling."

"Actually, I have a pretty good idea of what I want to say," he said. "And I've never done this before, so I find it strange that the words are there at all."

He let out a sigh and took her hand in his. "I have always been careful not to allow myself to get close to anyone," he began. "I have many allies, many of whom I can call friends, but only a few of them know what I look like. Zordon had warned me that showing my face to anyone I cared about was dangerous. So many villains seek me out, wanting nothing more than to destroy me, and knowing my identity would make their search much easier. But I also know that my friends would never give up my identity."

Cassie felt Phantom Ranger squeeze her fingers a little as he paused, feeling his nervousness overpower hers as it seemed to flow through her.

"I have never felt about anyone the way that I feel about you, Cassie," Phantom Ranger started again. "And I wish to get to know you better, though I know that our missions will not allow time for such a thing. But we have this moment right now and I plan to make it count for something… I love you, Cassie. And I don't know if you could ever lov –"

"I love you too," she answered softly before he could say anything else.

"I hoped that you would feel the same," he said, the happiness in his voice apparent before suddenly becoming somewhat somber again. "But after I show you what I look like, you may not feel that way."

"Why would you think that?" Cassie asked with a frown. "I told you that I love you. Why would you think that I'd take it back after seeing your face?"

"It's easier than it sounds," he replied. "And it isn't an issue of superficiality. It's a matter of how involved with me you would want to be after you find out who I am."

"Your face won't change how I feel," Cassie assured him as he lowered his head. "I promise you that."

"I am happy to hear you say that," Phantom Ranger said, releasing her hand though he still sounded sad. "But I will let you decide for yourself now."

Phantom Ranger placed his hand onto his chest and stood back from her, covering his Power Ruby and Cassie took in a breath. "Power down," he said firmly, bringing his hand back down to his side. In a bright red flash, the Phantom Ranger suit was gone and all that was left was Esson, standing as straight as he could in spite of the pain it caused him to do so.

Cassie stared at him as he stared back waiting for her reaction, but she initially had none. She could only indulge herself in his features, looking into his light brown eyes that seemed so sad as he stood there in silence. She finally walked back up to him and ran her fingers through his short and wavy brown hair as she continued to study him, finally circling him in search of a tail, which she found no evidence of. He just seemed so… perfect, Cassie decided with a smile. What could he have possibly been worried about?

"Please say something," he begged her as she faced him again. "It's okay if my appearance upsets you, Cassie. I'll understand if you never want anything to do with me again. But please say so."

Cassie looked into his eyes and, perhaps out of curiosity or for his reassurance, she closed her eyes and leaned forward until her lips found his. He tensed slightly at the surprise of her kiss, but his relaxation was almost immediate and he deepened the kiss to _her_ surprise. Time was lost momentarily as their embrace continued until Esson pulled back from her slowly.

"What's the matter?" Cassie asked.

"I think that Zhane may have been right," he replied softly.

"Right about what?"

"All you see is my face," Esson answered. "You honestly don't see my flaws at all."

"Esson, there isn't anything about you that I could ever see as a flaw," Cassie protested. "What is it that you think I don't see?"

"Really look at me, Cassie," he said. "Not what I look like, but …"

"_Who_ you look like," Cassie finished distantly, looking at his facial features with a sigh. The sadness on his face was all too familiar now. She had just seen it less than an hour ago on Kurakk. "You're related to Andros, aren't you?"

"Are you disappointed?" he asked, casting his eyes down.

"If you hadn't said anything, I probably wouldn't have even noticed," Cassie said. "But a relation to Andros isn't a flaw."

"Isn't it?" he questioned. "It means that the prophecy could involve me too. And I've spent most of my life trying to convince myself that it isn't about me and my family. But it is."

"It says siblings on a path of evil, right?" Cassie asked. "You're the furthest thing from evil that I know. How could you ever believe that the prophecy might be about you?"

"I once said something similar to Andros not too long ago, but I had the displeasure of being attacked by him," Esson explained. "And even knowing that he had no control over it, it makes me wonder just how much control we have in this prophecy. Maybe I play a part in it, but I just don't know it yet. I could be putting you in danger even now."

"That's what's bothering you about me seeing you as Andros' brother?" Cassie asked, taking his hand in hers again. "You think I'll connect you with the prophecy? … Well, you can't convince me as easily. I know it isn't about you."

"There's something else about it that I fear will trouble you," Esson said, unable to look at her.

"What?" Cassie asked, not wishing to think about Andros or the prophecy right now.

"Andros is the eldest of my siblings."

"So what?" Cassie shrugged. "We need his approval or something?"

"No," he answered softly. "But I'm younger than he is… younger than _you_ are, Cassie."

"So you're seventeen?" Cassie asked with a smile. "That's not a problem."

"I'm not seventeen," he said, his voice even softer than before. "I'm in my sixteenth year."

"Sixteen," Cassie repeated with a sigh. "How long have you been sixteen?"

"Approximately twelve days," Esson said, looking up at her as he felt her fingers curl away from his.

"That means that when we met you were fifteen and I was seventeen," she thought aloud. "It means that the kiss that we just shared was wrong and… forbidden."

"I know how important age can be on Earth," he said. "And I wanted to tell you before you told me that you loved me and before we kissed –"

"So what I feel for you isn't real at all," Cassie said, backing away from him.

"I… I guess not," Esson replied with a sigh.

"Unless, of course, I love you so much that two years doesn't mean anything to me," she said, smiling at him as he lifted his head. "And maybe I feel like you don't look younger than me, so I choose not to see it."

"But I need you to see it," he said firmly. "I need you to see me for who I really am, not the way you choose to see me, Cassie. If you don't, how can I know that you love me and not just part of me?"

"Okay," Cassie said, letting her smile fade a little. "I'm officially acknowledging that you might be part of the prophecy and that you're younger than me… But you have to accept that I love you too much to care about those things because as long as I'm an Astroranger, I'm involved in the prophecy too. I'm not afraid of it or you or Andros, for that matter… And if you were thirteen or fourteen years old right now, a relationship might be kind of, well, strange to consider. We're not ten or twenty years apart, its just two years. If it doesn't bother you, it doesn't bother me either. So that's me seeing you for who you really are and not as I choose to."

"And you'd still want to try a relationship after learning all of this?" Esson asked. "You don't just feel sorry for me?"

Cassie walked back to him and reached for his hand. "How else can I convince you that I really want this?" she asked.

"I don't need you to," he replied. "You've given me the answer I needed to make another important decision."

"What's that?" Cassie asked.

"I've decided to begin training another," Esson said. "Because Zhane was still correct in saying that I have never attempted to be anyone other than the Phantom Ranger. And while I've never regretted being Phantom Ranger, I feel that I have mastered all of the lessons that come with being him. It is now time for me to figure out who Esson is. And when that time comes, I hope that you'll be there to help me figure him out."

"I will be," Cassie assured him, kissing his lips gently and wrapping her arms around his waist. "Just promise that you'll stay a little while longer… just for today. Maybe another couple of hours or so…"

"I promise," he said with a small smile, holding her close to him. "A couple of hours or so…"


	29. Chapter 29

Ch 29

Ashley stood waiting in the Megalift, not sure that she wanted to get out right away. She was in the space hatch now, where she knew that Andros waited for Zhane and Phantom Ranger. And now she had been given the unfortunate task of explaining to him that it would be a while before Phantom Ranger returned, having walked by the infirmary moments earlier to hear him and Cassie talking.

But she was not certain that she wanted to be the one to bring him that news. He had been visibly upset after returning from the cave and he had not spoken a word since. Bothering him seemed like a really bad idea, even worse than the first time she had tried it the day she had met him. And he was in a much worse mood this time.

Ignoring her nerves, Ashley stepped out of the Megalift, slowly making her way to where she thought she heard Andros' uneven breathing and occasional sniffles. And as she walked closer to the shuttle, the sounds became a little louder and she peered inside. He was sitting on the floor with his head leaned back against the shuttle and tears streaming down his face, acknowledging Ashley with a glance before staring up at the ceiling again.

"I don't think that Phantom Ranger will be taking you guys back anytime soon," Ashley said softly. "Why don't you come out of here and sit in your own room for a while, maybe take a nap or something?"

Andros wiped away his tears with his hands and said nothing, still focusing on the gray ceiling above him.

"You probably haven't eaten anything in a while," Ashley tried again. "Did you want me to bring you anything? I don't mind bringing you something."

Again, Andros did not reply and he closed his eyes, having grown tired of the ceiling.

"M'anasa," Ashley said quietly. "M'uzi-kotsa ta je-isa, an mei kon isan ri anata."

Andros opened his eyes and turned his head to her in surprise in spite of his stoic facial expression. "How did you get all of that from an hour-long Karovan lesson?" he asked.

"It didn't take long for me to learn everything on it," Ashley said with a shrug. "So I asked DECA to teach me more words."

"And you learned all those words in less than two weeks?" he asked, lifting his head up from the shuttle.

"Well, I had a feeling that I'd have to use those words on you someday soon," Ashley replied. "So I asked DECA to translate a few phrases of my own. And I really do want you to be happy… I just don't know what to do for you."

"There isn't anything you can do," Andros said with a sigh. "I'd rather just be alone now."

"Cutting yourself off from the people who care about you and worry about you is the last thing you should do," she argued. "You need to talk about what happened back there, Andros."

"There's nothing to talk about," he said, shaking his head.

"So, you're just going to ignore what Astronema said to you?"

"I'd like to, yes," Andros said sharply. "I want to forget what I know –about Astronema, about everything. I just want to forget… I was somewhat happier when I didn't remember everything. And finally the Narces poison is wearing off and the memories are fading. But this memory… it isn't going to fade with the others."

"No, it isn't," Ashley agreed. "That's why you should talk about it, Andros. If you keep ignoring your feelings, they'll come out all at once. And whoever's around on that day will live to regret it… probably me."

"Ashley, I –" Andros began.

"I was kidding," she said with a smile. "But maybe you _should_ talk about it, Andros. You might feel better."

"What's left to talk about?" he asked. "Astronema is my sister and she's still bent on trying to destroy us."

"You believe her?" Ashley asked.

"I don't have enough reasons not to," Andros said softly. "She had the locket and I can't ignore that… no matter how much I really want to."

"Maybe we can convince her to fight with us," Ashley suggested. "It's a long shot but –"

"She's not going to fight with us, Ashley," he interrupted. "Astronema is evil. Her intentions were only to distract us from the sword. She wanted to distract me in particular. Nothing changes because she's my sister. She won't stop attacking us just because we're related."

"Maybe you're right," Ashley said, sitting down beside him. "Maybe it was all a distraction… But it's working pretty well, don't you think?"

"What?"

"I mean, you're still thinking about it, right?" Ashley pointed out. "It's distracting you from figuring out the memory that triggers those attacks you were so worried about. It'll probably distract you during your next fight too. And it's all because you've given up."

"I haven't given up," Andros argued.

"You have so," Ashley countered. "You're in here all by yourself, throwing out whatever hope you came back with. I really liked that hope. It gave you a confidence that I hadn't felt in you before… And now it's gone."

"Maybe you're right," Andros said. "Maybe I gave up because it was too hard to fight back. I had to pump poison into my body just to keep from attacking my friends… I'm struggling to hold onto memories that I should never have lost… I try to get through each day without thinking about the stupid prophecy… Sometimes, I get so tired of fighting against the universe and all these carefully laid out plans for me. I just want to be a normal person who doesn't have to worry about this kind of stuff. But I don't have that luxury."

"And I'm not all by myself," he added, meeting her eyes. "For whatever reason, be it pity or true kindness, I have you here."

Ashley smiled. "It's not pity," she said. "You hate that kind of stuff, remember?"

"Yeah," Andros replied. "I do."

Andros reached into his pocket and pulled out the small gold necklace that he had felt sliding out, handing it out to her. "I guess I should give this back to you."

"It didn't work for you?" Ashley asked.

"It might have," Andros said. "I found out that I didn't kill anyone and that my sister's still alive. The Narces poison kept me from attacking you and the others… I didn't waste away to nothing eating rations on Eltar."

"Sounds like it worked extra hard for you then," Ashley replied. "Maybe you should keep it."

"What happens if _you_ need it?" he asked, putting his hand down and looking down at the necklace.

"Oh I don't think I'll need it anytime soon," she said with a sigh. "After all, I was the only one that didn't hallucinate in the cave."

"I figured that you might be the only one to see the sword," Andros said. "Everyone else was distracted… By the time we got to the sword, everyone else was too busy focusing on other things. When we walked in, I could feel what everyone was thinking. Cassie was thinking about Phantom Ranger and he was thinking about her, so they saw each other… T.J., Carlos, and Zhane were hallucinating about me because they're still having trouble trusting me."

"So, I was able to see the sword because that was what I was focused on?" Ashley asked. "Then what was it that _you_ saw?"

"My friends," he answered softly. "My brother, mostly."

"Aeden?" Ashley inquired and Andros nodded. "I remember you saying his name."

"He kept telling me that it was my fault that he was gone," he said. "And then they all attacked me… "

"Even with your memories back, you still blame yourself for that?" Ashley asked.

"No," he answered. "It wasn't about what you think. I know what happened to him wasn't my fault. He was angry because of what I had forgotten. But I won't be able to fix everything I messed up until Zhane and I can return to the ship permanently."

He was quiet then and Ashley scooted a little closer to him. "Back in the cave, did I really read your mind?" Ashley asked, breaking the silence.

Andros nodded. "You did," he affirmed almost proudly.

"How'd I do it?"

"You care too much," he replied, glancing over at her. "You saw me in pain back there and you saw me fighting, but no matter how many times I told you that I was fine, you continued to worry… And I was too weak to block out your thoughts."

"But you're not the first person I've ever cared about," Ashley said. "And I didn't have that ability before I met you."

"Not necessarily," Andros replied, turning to her. "On KO-35, the ability to read minds is usually learned. Zhane and I can get into each others' heads because he's had years of practice and I can't control mine most of the time… But there are people that choose not to learn how, yet they are able to read minds at times. It's usually one mind, though –the mind of someone close to them. And the closer they get, the easier it becomes for one person to enter the mind of the other. They're called Oaeta."

"And you think that we might be Oaeta?" she wondered.

"It would seem so," Andros said with a nod.

"How likely is it that people from two different planets would be Oaeta?"

"Definitely less likely than two people from the same planet," he answered. "But your constant worrying about me is probably what jumpstarted it for you. And the more time we spend together, the stronger it'll get."

"That's kind of cool," Ashley decided, wondering if Andros had ever picked up on anything private or impure in her head. "Is there any way that you can teach me to control it better?"

Andros nodded, stifling a laugh. "It would take some time, but there _is_ a way to control it… before I pick up on anything _impure_," he said with a smile.

Ashley nudged him playfully with her elbow. "That isn't why I wanted to know," she said with a laugh. "What if I'm writing in my diary or something and I start describing a dream that I'd be too embarrassed to talk to you guys about? You'd be able to read my thoughts and I'd still end up being embarrassed."

"I know how you feel," he replied, his smile fading as he thought about the last risqué dream he had about Skye and Zhane's effortless ability to read him. "Before I leave, I'll teach you a few mind exercises that you can do that should help you with control."

"Thanks," Ashley replied.

"No, thank _you_," he said, holding out the necklace to her once more. "Are you sure that you don't want this back yet?"

"Keep it," Ashley said, placing her hand over his and closing his fingers around the necklace. "If it really works, it'll figure out a way to let you stay on the ship for good. We really missed you guys when you were gone… _I _missed you."

But Andros was just barely listening, his face reddening at the light touch of her hand on his. He looked from their hands to her eyes, trying to decide whether he should move his hand back or hold hers.

And she was staring back at him, just as unsure of what to do as he was, finding herself moving closer to him as she allowed her fingers to thread with his. She watched him swallow nervously as his face moved toward her own, her eyes closing as she waited for his lips to contact hers. After what felt like forever, Ashley finally felt the light touch of his lips briefly and she tilted her head a little as she felt his lips again, more intense than before.

By the time they had reached the beginning of a third kiss, Ashley felt Andros suddenly release her hand and she opened her eyes to him clutching at his head in pain.

"Andros, what's wrong?" she asked as his face paled.

Andros did not answer, squeezing against the sharp, throbbing pain in his head with both hands as though the pain would split his head in two. He groaned as the pain continued, hearing Ashley's muffled words of panic. Had he been able to get the words out, he would have told her not to worry, but any words of comfort would have been cut off by the sudden blinding pain that he now felt. As the force of it knocked him back, his head connected hard with the ground and his eyes closed as the pain began to travel through his entire body. A bright light seemed to be shining into his eyes and he opened them, the pain decreasing as he did.

And suddenly Ashley was no longer kneeling over him and he was no longer on the Astro Megaship. He was outside, in what appeared to be the center of Angel Grove. He was standing now with his back against a tree and unable to move. The Astrorangers were standing around him, their gray uniforms and hands splattered with blood. Echoing in Andros' ears was the sound of Darkonda's evil laughter, and the Demon Sword of Kurakk came toward in him in one fierce thrust.

Andros gasped and closed his eyes again, no longer feeling the intense pain that had plagued him moments before. He felt the light touch of Ashley's fingertips on his forehead and he forced his eyes back open, feigning a smile.

"I'm okay," he said softly, though he could see that _she_ was not. "What's the matter?"

"What's an oracle?" Ashley asked, gently smoothing his hair back.

"What?"

"You said something about an oracle," she replied. "You said she gave you a gift from your father."

"I said that?" Andros asked, trying to remember.

"You said a lot of things…That's why you're still down here and not in the infirmary," Ashley explained. "You asked me not to move you… Then you mentioned something about the oracle and your father's gift."

"The gift of sight," Andros said with a sigh. "Until now, I wasn't sure what kind of gift my father had left for me, but it wasn't a gift _from _him. It was just his gift, his ability. He used to get visions sometimes, but I don't remember him being in that much pain when he'd get them."

"Good visions?" Ashley asked hopefully.

"Very rarely," Andros answered, shaking his head.

"It sounds more like a curse to me," Ashley said. "What did you see?"

"I'm not sure," he lied, gathering enough strength to sit up. "But it doesn't matter… Nothing I see in a vision can ever be changed."

"You're keeping something from me," Ashley said, folding her arms. "What did you see?"

Andros shook his head. "Please, Ashley," he sighed. "I'd like to forget it… "

"It seems like all you do is forget," Zhane said, entering the space hatch with T.J. and Carlos. "Now what happened?"

Ashley looked to Andros, uncertain of what he expected her to tell the others. Of course she should tell them what had happened, but Andros wanted to forget it and talking about it again would not help.

"I had a vision," Andros said, standing from the floor. "It wasn't very clear and I don't want to discuss it."

"Your dad's gift?" Zhane asked.

"Yeah."

"But you're okay?" T.J. asked. "DECA told us that you were in pain."

"I was, but I'm fine now," Andros replied, turning to Zhane and hoping to change the subject. "We aren't leaving anytime soon, are we?"

"Well, I haven't heard from Esson, so he must not be in any hurry," Zhane said with a shrug. "How about you?"

Andros glanced over at Ashley, knowing that she was looking back at him and he smiled to himself. "I'm not ready to go," he said softly.

"Then, good news," Zhane said with a smile. "Sadi's leaving in the morning and she's giving us our morphers back."

"Are you serious?" Andros asked.

Zhane reached into his pocket and pulled out Andros' locket, tossing it and the Astromorpher to him. "I'm serious," he assured him, showing Andros his own morpher.

"How'd you manage that?" Ashley asked.

Zhane looked away for a moment, backing out of the room nervously. "You'd be surprised how far a few firm words and apologies can take you," he said.

"And I'm sure that you didn't do any of that," Andros said, narrowing his eyes at his friend. "What did you do this time?"

"What did you see in your vision?" Zhane asked, challenging him. "I'll tell mine when you tell yours."

"Then we'll forget it… for now," Andros replied.

"Good," Zhane said. "We're meeting on the Simudeck for dinner in a few minutes."

"We'll catch up with you," Andros said as Zhane and the others left the space hatch. When he was certain that he heard the Megalift doors close, he turned to Ashley with a sigh. "You were going to lie for me," he said.

"I think I was," she said softly. "But you told them… Why?"

"Zhane can read my mind anyway," Andros shrugged. "I'm surprised that he didn't say anything about… you know."

"Say it."

"About our… kiss," Andros said. "You don't regret it, do you?"

"No," Ashley answered with a smile. "Do you?"

Andros shook his head. "It's one of the few things I've done recently that I _don't _regret doing," he replied. "So, the only thing left to do now is decide where we go from here, _if_ we decide to do anything… I mean, if we decide to continue whatever it was that we attempted in the future…"

Ashley walked closer to him, gazing into his nervous hazel eyes. "Actually," she began. "I was wondering if you wanted to finish the kiss we started before we stand to ruin it with a bunch of common sense and reasoning… If that's what _you_ want, of course."

Andros smiled at her and lightly pushed back a strand of hair from her face, his nervousness fading as she gently kissed his lips again. It felt nice not to have to think about everything he chose to do and it felt even nicer to know that he was doing something that had not been foretold in a prophecy. He was kissing Ashley and it felt as right as if he had planned for it all along.

Ashley was right, talking would likely only result in a list of reasons that they should leave each other alone. Right now, talk was of no use to them. And in that single moment that seemed to change everything between them, it was for the best.


	30. Chapter 30

Ch 30

Astronema stormed angrily onto the Dark Fortress, grasping tightly onto her locket.

She would have never believed that she would have been taking a risk by telling the Red Ranger who she was to him. And she had been so sure that the Red Ranger would believe her, though the anger she had seen in his eyes begged to differ. But he had nearly killed her in front of his own teammates using the only thing that linked her to him. Astronema lifted the locket from around her neck and threw it angrily across the room with a grunt so childish that it surprised her.

"I know who I am," she said to herself, beginning to pace from one end of the bridge to the other.

Ecliptor entered the room, bowing briefly to his princess, but she was presently in no mood for even his subservience. He walked toward her, holding onto his aching shoulder and wondering how Astronema could have ever trusted Darkonda.

"You're right, Ecliptor," Astronema said, continuing to pace. "Darkonda was more trouble than he was worth. I should have listened to you when you tried to warn me."

"I am sorry that I could not stop him," Ecliptor replied, having forgotten Astronema's ability to read his mind. "But I promise you that I will destroy him the next time we meet."

Astronema stopped pacing and turned to Ecliptor suddenly. "Darkonda has the Demon Sword of Kurakk," she seethed. "Only the sword itself can destroy him as long as it remains in his hands. And who knows how long that will take."

Ecliptor began to walk away, knowing how unwise it was to stick around during one of Astronema's moods. However, he stopped in his tracks when his foot came down on something hard with a light crunch. Ecliptor lifted his foot and bent down to pick up the locket that he had lied to Astronema about so many times in the past. He clutched it angrily in his hand, wishing to break it over all the trouble it had caused her. If only he had destroyed it when he had the chance, when she had first come to him as a tiny and frightened girl, then maybe she would not have spent so much time and energy trying to remember. But the little girl had held tightly to the locket, more than attached to the photos inside and Ecliptor knew that trying to take it from her would fail even then.

"I must know," Ecliptor began, turning to Astronema, who had started to pace again. "Why is it that you felt the need to look into your past? Are you not happy here?"

"Of course, I'm happy," Astronema said distantly. "I have the Dark Fortress and all the power it wields… I am Dark Specter's heir, in line to rule over the universe. And I can't think of anything that I've ever wanted that I didn't get from you or Dark Specter."

"Then why seek out your brother after all these years?" he asked.

Astronema slowed to a stop again. "I'm human, Ecliptor," she began softly. "That means that at some point I must have had a mother and a father… I've been having dreams recently about my family, hearing their voices and even seeing their faces. When Dark Specter introduced me to Darkonda and told me about his plan to destroy the Red Ranger, I remembered things."

"That Darkonda had taken you from KO-35?" Ecliptor asked.

"He confirmed it this year, when Dark Specter learned of the Red Ranger's survival on Omni-8," Astronema said. "Then I knew for sure that the brother that I had dreamt about was real. I knew that I had a family and that he was it. That's when the plan changed –the Red Ranger was to be taken alive."

"Does it not confuse you, knowing that you come from goodness?" he asked, looking down at the locket in his hand.

"You think I'll turn good," Astronema guessed, sitting down with a sigh and unable to look into Ecliptor's eyes. "I know who I am, Ecliptor… It's the Red Ranger that doesn't know who he's dealing with."

"But, Princess," Ecliptor began.

"Leave me," she ordered. "And begin a search for Darkonda. He'll go after the rangers for sure. We can start by finding the Astro Megaship. It seems to have fallen off our radar."

"If the Red Ranger has to be alive for Dark Specter's plan, then how will we stop Darkonda from using the sword to destroy him and the others?"

Astronema finally looked up at him, turning her seat to face him with a sly smile on her lips as she began to feel more like herself. "I have no doubt that the rangers will be ready for Darkonda whenever he decides to attack. And if all goes as planned, the rangers will have the weapon for exactly three days before they hand it over to us. Dark Specter's plan will not fail."

"Then I will begin tracking the Astro Megaship now," Ecliptor said with a bow before leaving Astronema on the bridge muttering about how ingenious her plan was.

As he walked away, he passed by Astronema's bedroom, placing the locket onto her bed with a sigh. He could not bring himself to destroy it, even if his princess had desired it when she had thrown it. And he backed away from it, the urge to destroy it becoming greater. As long as it continued to exist, it would serve as a painful reminder to her, even he knew that. It would remind her of what she had lost, what could have been, and ultimately who she was supposed to be.

A brief alarm sounded and Astronema turned to the viewing screen, frowning when Sadi's face appeared.

"You're still on the Astro Megaship," Astronema said, looking at Sadi's background. "Why are you contacting me from the Megaship with the rangers still there?"

"They know about everything," Sadi replied. "They even destroyed the pod you used to listen in on them with. I have to leave tonight."

"You failed," Astronema said, narrowing her eyes at her.

"No, _you_ failed," Sadi spat back at her. "I did everything you told me to do. I got onto the ship, I broke the rangers down and exhausted them as much as I could, and I made them think that he killed other humans. Someone else told him that he didn't hurt anyone on Omni-8 and the plan fell apart from there. And then you, telling him that he's your brother. It hasn't fazed him in the way that you were hoping."

"Only time will tell," Astronema replied. "But I didn't fail either. Darkonda's betrayal is sure to set everything in motion for the rangers to get the Demon Sword of Kurakk back, even if things happen a little slower than I'd hoped… And you'd be wise not to address me so carelessly if you wish to remain on my good side. We could always use your sister if you'd rather not –"

"I'll finish the job," Sadi interrupted. "What should I do next?"

"Go to KO-35 and locate the Karovan dorig," Astronema said. "Then, I want you to give it to a child."

"A child?" Sadi repeated.

"The oracles respond to a lonely child's voice, didn't you know?" Astronema asked with a sly smile. "Find the dorig and give it to a child. I need to test a theory… Oh, and as for the Red Ranger, you can pull the trigger now."

-0-0-0-0-

"Talking to the boss?" Andros asked, walking onto the bridge as the main viewing screen faded to black and Sadi stood up from the center console to leave.

"You're going to turn me in to the A.D.A. Galactic Force, aren't you?" Sadi asked as sadly as she could. "After all that I've done for you?"

"What good will turning you in do?" Andros asked with a shrug. "I've turned you in to them before for worse things and they didn't do anything major."

"They took my morpher away from me," Sadi pointed out, quickly abandoning the sad act.

"Yes, but you never cared about that," Andros replied. "You only cared that your boyfriend ended up in intensive care. That's the only reason you're here."

"He was hurt because of you," Sadi said. "Or have you forgotten?"

"Actually, thanks to whatever happened to me on Omni-8, I _don__'__t_ recall much about it at all," Andros said, seeing her frown a little. "Does that bother you?"

"Isn't that a question you should be asking yourself?" Sadi asked instead, rolling her eyes. "You may not have killed anyone, but I've watched you attack your friends and seen you put a man in the hospital just a few years ago."

"Attacking my friends wasn't my fault," Andros said firmly. "But you could've hurt mine and that's why I'm here right now."

"What are you talking about?" Sadi asked. "If it weren't for me, your friends wouldn't have made it out of Kurakk alive."

"Did you mention to them that they're draining their life energy when they use their powers the way you taught them?" he asked. "Just imagine what could have happened if they'd have touched the sword. There'd have been almost no power left for the sword to take from them and the sword would have possessed them."

"Oh, is that what could've happened?" Sadi asked, feigning surprise. "I guess I just wasn't thinking."

"You're just like your sister," Andros said, shaking his head.

"And you're going to end up just like yours according to the prophecy," Sadi shot back with a smile.

"You don't know what you're talking about," Andros muttered.

"No?" Sadi asked. "You'll fight your friends until you figure out what the trigger memory is. Unfortunately for them, you'll probably destroy them before that happens."

"But you know what it is," Andros said, briefly scanning her thoughts. "You know the memory that will stop me from hurting my friends and you're going to keep it to yourself, right?"

"I'd be happy to tell you," Sadi said, walking up to him and lightly stroking his cheek. "I'll tell you anything for the right price."

Andros gently swatted her hand away and took a step back from her. "I'm not for sale," he said.

"Since when?" Sadi asked with a smile.

"Isn't it time for you to leave now?" Zhane said from behind them, walking onto the bridge with the other rangers.

"I sure will miss you guys," Sadi said, the false sadness returning to her voice as she glanced around at the icy stares of the rangers. Her eyes finally rested on the demorphed Phantom Ranger. "Esson, looking good as always."

Cassie stared angrily at her, looking up at Esson, who said nothing as he stared just as coldly at Sadi. "Don't you have somewhere you need to be?" she asked.

"I suppose I _should_ go," Sadi said with a sigh. "It's just that I have so many memories to take back with me… I just can't bear the thought of leaving."

"You'll get used to it," Zhane said.

Sadi smiled. "I'll especially miss you, Zhane," she said with a wink, making him shudder and cast his eyes away from her in silence. "And don't worry. Your neck should heal just fine."

Zhane lifted his eyes, narrowing them at her before looking over at Andros, who frowned at him. "It's not what you think," Zhane said to him.

"You slept with her?" Andros asked. "That's how you got us back on the ship?"

"It's more complicated than that," Zhane said.

"Yes or no?" Andros asked firmly. "Did you?"

"Zhane?" T.J. asked, turning to him. "You didn't, right?"

Zhane looked away again and Sadi smiled. "You shouldn't be ashamed, Zhane," she said. "We both knew that it was bound to happen again."

"Again?" Andros asked when Zhane snapped up his head at her words. "When?"

"It's not important," Zhane said, staring angrily at Sadi. "You know she's just playing us against each other before she –"

"When?" Andros asked again.

Zhane shook his head to himself with a sigh. "Before Esson took us to Eltar, I thought I could get our morphers back before we left the ship," he said. "But the offer wasn't exactly on the table just yet."

"And I'm sure you're thinking to yourself, 'why Zhane and not me?'" Sadi said, walking up to Andros with a giggle. "Just know that the offer could have been on your table and it's never too late to make it up to me."

"I have a strict no-monster policy," Andros replied, stepping back from her. "You should go now, Sadi… _Right_ now."

"You know, I just realized that the whole time since I've been here, you really didn't ask me," Sadi said, shaking her head at him. "The Cromians really did a number on you, didn't they?"

"You'd know, wouldn't you?" Ashley asked.

"I already asked you where the Rebels were," Andros said. "There's nothing else that you know that I'd want to hear from you."

"Then, I'll just tell Zhane," Sadi said. "He's the only one who'd be interested to know anyway."

"Why won't you just go?" Zhane asked in exasperation. "Just go… please."

"But don't you want to know what happened to _your_sister?" she asked him, immediately capturing his attention again. "Or why don't you ask Andros?"

Zhane looked over at Andros, who stood frozen, his eyes beginning to glaze over as he stared at nothing. "Sadi, shut up," Zhane said worriedly.

"Did you know that she's still alive?" Sadi asked with a smile.

"I'm serious, Sadi," Zhane said. "Just shut up and go away before Andros has another episode and embraces the urge to hurt you and the rest of us."

"You know that I wouldn't lie about Lyell," Sadi said firmly. "She was the only one around here who ever cared about me. And whether you know it or not, I'm helping you… Once you know the truth, Andros won't attack you anymore."

"Then, why does it look like he's going to go into another episode?" Zhane asked, still watching him carefully.

"He'll snap out of it once I tell you what he's kept from you all this time," Sadi said. "Now do you want to hear it or not?"

"You have two minutes," Zhane said, folding his arms.

"After you guys were supposed to meet up on KO-35 after you took the Velocifighters, Andros lied to you about not knowing where Lyell and Aeden were," Sadi began. "He had found them and placed them in a hospital on KO-35."

"First of all, there weren't any doctors on KO-35 at that time," Zhane said. "And second, Andros was with me the whole time. When'd he have time to do all of this?"

"Why do you think it took him so long to meet up with you?" Sadi asked. "But there were still a few people stubborn enough to stay on KO-35 and Andros found someone to look after them while he went to talk to you."

"You're lying," Zhane said, shaking his head. "You don't really expect me to believe anything you say, do you?"

"Then, why is that look gone from his face?" Sadi asked, making her way to the Megalift and blowing a kiss to the guilt-ridden Red Ranger before glancing around at the others. "_Now_ I can leave… Bye, lovers."


	31. Chapter 31

Ch 31

"Sadi wasn't lying, was she?" Zhane asked after a moment, turning to Andros who continued to stand away from him, silent and frozen on the bridge. "My sister's really alive?"

Andros finally looked up, blinking helplessly at his friend as a lifetime of memories flooded his mind and clouded his vision as it had briefly done on Kurakk. Suddenly, he was able to push away the false memories that had begun to eat away at him again and all that was left now were Zhane's questions. But no words would come out to answer them and he continued to stare at Zhane silently.

But Zhane was no longer looking at Andros anymore, turning to DECA's cameras and wondering whether she could know. "DECA, is Lyell still alive?"

"That is correct," DECA replied without elaboration.

"Well, where is she?" he asked, turning back to Andros and meeting his worried eyes. "And why didn't you tell me that she was alive? Was something wrong with her?"

Andros shook his head slowly, unable to break Zhane's gaze. But he finally found his voice again. "I couldn't," he managed to say, his voice nearly at a whisper. "I couldn't tell you."

"You still haven't," Zhane said, folding his arms. "But I'm starting to wonder how Sadi knew… Did she get to you before she got to me?"

"No," Andros said. "I would never –I just wouldn't…"

"But if Sadi knew, then that means that she must have seen Lyell," Zhane concluded. "And that means that she must be… here."

Zhane took a step closer to him, causing Andros to take a step back. "Is Lyell here?" Zhane asked him. "Is she on the ship?"

The other rangers looked to Andros, waiting for his answer and looking back to Zhane when Andros said nothing.

"DECA," Zhane began, glaring angrily at Andros as he spoke. "What happened to my sister?"

"Lyell is currently in hypersleep on Megadeck –" DECA started.

"DECA, be quiet," Andros ordered quickly.

"So she really is on the ship," Zhane said. "You –You froze her? That's why you won't tell me where she is… You think I'll unplug her."

"Wouldn't you?" Andros asked.

"She was very clear about her position on cryonics," Zhane replied. "You agreed not to bring those… _things_ onto the ship and we agreed not to kick your butt for even suggesting that we use them… So, yeah. I'd unplug her. Now, tell me where she is."

Andros shook his head. "I can't do that, Zhane," he said.

"You know, I was wondering why you were so quick to dismiss Astronema as your sister," Zhane said, shaking his head as his anger increased with every passing second. "But I understand now. You let go of your sister a long time ago because you were too busy holding onto mine."

"I didn't plan on keeping her in it for two years," Andros said.

"You also didn't plan on telling me," Zhane shot back. "Now, I'll ask you one last time –where is Lyell?"

"I can't," Andros said, glancing from his fuming friend to the confused rangers that stood by watching silently. He turned back to Zhane in time to see a fist connect hard with his face.

Esson immediately wedged himself between Andros and Zhane, hoping to prevent any further blows. T.J. and Carlos each used a hand to hold Zhane back while Ashley and Cassie pulled Andros away from him.

Andros put a hand up to his nose, wiping away the small trickle of blood that rested on his upper lip. He looked to Zhane, who stood surrounded by the three rangers with pure fury in his eyes.

"I'm not asking anymore," Zhane said more calmly than he looked. "Tell me where she is, Andros."

"So you can kill her?" Andros asked. "She's alive, Zhane. She's alive right now because of me and maybe you just can't stand that I was able to save her while you –"

Andros cut himself off as Zhane charged past the other rangers and pinned Andros against the wall behind him, his fist raised as he prepared to hit Andros again. The rangers ran over to them, attempting to pull Zhane away from him, but Zhane's anger was more than enough to keep Andros against the wall.

"Zhane, let him go," Ashley said, joining the other rangers in trying to pull his arm from against Andros' chest as it moved dangerously close to his throat.

"Tell me where my sister is or I'll make it hurt this time," Zhane ordered him.

"It wasn't supposed to hurt before?" Andros asked sarcastically.

Again, Zhane's fist came like a hammer on Andros' nose and Andros' head hit the wall with a thud that seemed to shake the whole bridge.

"Zhane, calm down," Esson said, struggling for control of Zhane's fist. "You won't find her this way."

"Was this your vision?" Zhane asked Andros, ignoring the efforts of his friends. "Did you see me fulfilling the Oracle's prophecy? Because I will…"

"You won't kill me," Andros said, his face beginning to ache from Zhane's last strike. "You know that I'm not doing this to hurt you, Zhane."

"Then, why _are_ you doing this?" he asked. "Just tell me where she is and this can be over. But if you don't, I'll just tear the Megaship apart until I find her. It's your choice."

When Andros did not respond, Zhane let out a sigh before bringing his fist to Andros' stomach. "DECA," he tried again. "Tell me where Lyell is."

"DECA, don't," Andros said softly, trying to recover from the blow to his stomach. "Don't tell him anyth–" His protest was stopped by a knee to the stomach and Andros groaned in pain, unable to fall to his knees as his body had attempted as long as Zhane held him against the wall.

"Lyell is currently in hypersleep on Megadeck 6 in the Healing Chamber," DECA responded.

Zhane let go of Andros and headed to the Megalift, leaving Andros on the ground in pain without giving him a second glance as he disappeared from the bridge. As he reached the engine room, Zhane felt his body tense up again. He actually felt a little bad about hurting his friend, but Andros had gone too far keeping this from him. And if he had not already broken Andros' nose, he promised himself to do it later.

On the other side of the engine, Zhane noticed the panel of wall that looked the most out of place and pulled back on it, revealing a small keypad. Without hesitation, he entered a code that he was certain that Andros used for everything and waited for the door to open. Not surprisingly, the door opened shortly thereafter and Zhane stepped into the room.

Zhane looked around the room, having never seen it before in the years he had spent on the Astro Megaship. He walked to the far side of the room toward two large machines that gave the room a bright blue glow that lay side by side. He peered into the cryogenic tube closest to him and his eyes filled with tears.

_It's really Lyell in there_, he kept saying to himself. _And she's alive_.

He stood over her, silently listening to the heart monitor's steady beeps on the console, unsure of what to do next. And that was how the rangers found him when they finally joined him in the Healing Chamber –standing quietly with tears in his eyes.

"I didn't want you to find out like this," Andros said softly, making his way to his friend.

"She didn't want this," Zhane said without facing him. "You knew that and you still did this."

"I had a chance to save her life and I took it," Andros said. "And I'd have done the same for you and any of the other rangers given the opportunity."

"But all those risks that you researched," Zhane began. "This tube could make her a vegetable for the rest of her life and that's if she even wakes up… She's alive but… what's her quality of life now? Why would you gamble with that?"

"None of those things were proven," Andros replied. "Cryonics is still more or less a theory."

"I know," Zhane said. "Just a theory, an experiment… one that was performed on my sister. _My_ sister. I can't even be happy that she's alive right now, not when her wishes were blatantly ignored. She was ready to die, Andros. And there's no shame in dying a hero… But you took that away from her."

Zhane looked at the console, searching for the right button or knob or anything that would end his sister's misery. His eyes finally rested on the black plug that led from the console to the tube.

"It's not misery, Zhane," Andros said, skimming the surface of his thoughts. "Lyell is alive and she isn't in pain… If you do this, you'll lose your sister twice which is why I didn't tell you about this in the first place. I didn't want you to lose her twice."

"It wasn't your decision to make," Zhane argued.

"You're right," Andros said. "But you have a choice now… You can end it now or you can let me try something. If it works, she'll wake up today."

"And if she doesn't?"

"If she doesn't, then she dies anyway," Andros said. "If she doesn't breathe on her own and you oppose the machine breathing for her, then she'll die in less than a minute."

Zhane thought a moment, stepping away from the plug as Andros stepped forward and pressed a few buttons on the console.

"When her body temperature is normal, I'll turn off her oxygen barrier and give her a minute to breathe on her own," Andros explained. "If she takes in a breath, it should be enough of a shock to her brain to wake her up."

After a few minutes, the console beeped, indicating a normal body temperature and Andros took in a breath, holding it as he reached over to open the cryogenic tube and turn off the invisible barrier of oxygen that gave the impression that she was breathing on her own.

Forty seconds passed and Andros was visibly nervous, beginning to bite his thumbnail as Zhane stared down at his sister with no hope at all in his glazed over eyes. Andros reached out and took Lyell's warm limp hand, angry at the pulse he felt in her wrist when she lay there not breathing. How could there be one without the other?

Ashley placed a hand on his shoulder and he looked up at her with a sigh as he gently placed Lyell's hand down and released it. But just as he did, the hand went stiff, trembling and reaching for his in panic.

"What's happening to her?" Zhane asked worriedly.

"She's trying to breathe," Andros answered, squeezing her hand back as Lyell writhed from side to side before finally opening her mouth and taking in a large gulp of air in a powerful gasp. Finally, she let Andros' hand go and she slowly sat up as her breathing became steadier and her eyes opened.

She was really awake. Even after convincing Zhane that it would work, Andros never actually believed that turning off her oxygen would result in her waking up. He figured that too much time had passed for such a thing to work or perhaps that not enough time had gone by. But it had worked and now he and Zhane stood by the tube staring at her.

"Are you two going to stare at me all day or tell me what just happened?" Lyell asked as she scooted to the edge of the tube and stood up from it with a smile. When neither of them said anything, she turned to Esson and the other rangers. "I know I missed something important," she continued. "Would anyone care to fill me in?"

"You were in a cryogenic tube," Esson began slowly, wondering if he had the right to explain the situation to her. Besides, he was still playing catch up on everything too. "You were frozen."

Lyell looked back at the machine that she had just gotten up from, looking from it to Andros and Zhane before shaking her head in disbelief. "That's a cute joke, Es," she said. "Whatever they're paying you to lie, I'll double it if you come clean."

The rangers glanced at Andros and Zhane, who still stared at her, occasionally attempting to give sound to the words they mouthed to her in explanation. They did not look as though they would be of much help at the moment.

"It isn't a joke," Ashley said, hoping that she could stall just long enough for one of the guys to snap out of it and explain everything themselves. "What's the last thing that you remember?"

"I remember Velocifighters, a lot of them," she answered. "And I remember… " She paused as she took a look at the strangers around her wearing Astroranger uniforms. She looked up at her brother, knowing somehow that he was different than the last time she had seen him. He was a little taller now, taller than she was anyway, just as Andros seemed.

"I'm sorry, Lyell," Zhane said, the tears in his eyes finally spilling over. "I didn't know… I didn't know."

Lyell looked at Andros, understanding the bruises and blood on his face as she met her sad eyes with his. She really had been frozen and her brother had only just found out about it, she could assume. Before she could stop herself, she had brought her hand across Andros' face, the sound of which made her jump a little.

"You froze me?" Lyell asked, turning to Andros slowly as he lowered his eyes in response and the red spot that she had left on his cheek brightened in color.

"He saved your life," Ashley tried to explain.

"I didn't ask him to," Lyell replied softly. "I knew the risks of the mission just as he did."

"I had a chance to save you and I took it," Andros said. "The risks of hypersleep didn't quite outweigh the consequences of letting you die."

"Not for you," Lyell said. "But you've always been a little selfish, haven't you?"

She placed a hand on his shoulder and he looked up at her, glad to see that she was smiling at him and he hugged her to him. When he finally let her go, she turned to her brother, who embraced his older sister and squeezed her tightly.

"I missed you," Zhane said as he let her go.

"Missed me?" Lyell asked. "How long was I frozen?"

Andros took a step back from her. "Two years," he answered timidly.

"And me?" a voice asked from the corner of the room.

Everyone turned to the voice, their eyes falling on the second cryogenic tube. Standing up from the tube was a man in a green Astroranger uniform who stretched and yawned before becoming steady on his feet and walking to Andros with a smile.

Andros did not reply, but he wrapped his arms around the man in a tight hug.

"Aeden," Esson said, staring at the Green Astroranger in awe. "You're alive."

"I won't be if he squeezes me any harder," Aeden joked as Andros released him with tears in his eyes. "So, I'm guessing that was a yes to me being frozen for two years?"

"Yeah," Andros answered.

"Did Zhane do that to you?" Aeden asked, pointing at his brother's face sympathetically.

"He's had it coming for a while," Zhane said firmly.

"I believe you," Aeden said with a smile, taking a look around at the rangers that he had never seen before. "So, you guys are Earth rangers, right?"

When they looked at him in surprised, Aeden pointed to his head. "I'm a telepath," he said. "So, I guess I really can't expect you to answer me. I already know where you come from and your names. The only thing that I can't quite understand is why you're all staring at me like that."

"Andros never mentioned that he was a twin," Ashley said, unable to contain her astonishment upon seeing Andros stand face-to-face with… himself. Aeden was his exact mirror image. "All of this is just kind of … a lot to take in, I guess."

"You didn't tell them that we were twins?" Aeden asked Andros, who shook his head in response. "Why not?"

"It didn't seem important," Andros said with a shrug. "It still doesn't."

"I don't mean to interrupt, but can we play catch up somewhere else?" Lyell asked. "It's freezing in here."

"No pun intended, I'm sure," Aeden added, leading the way out of the room with the other rangers close behind.


	32. Chapter 32

Ch 32

"_Karone?" Astronema heard a child call from behind her._

_She turned around slowly, finding only a small toy on the ground in front of her. She bent down to pick it up and the toy expanded into a hollow spherical shape._

"_Do you remember, Karone?" a second voice asked her, a woman's voice this time._

_Again, Astronema turned to address the voice she heard but found nothing. When she turned back, she found herself surrounded by trees and grass and flowers. This place was familiar to her, though she could not say exactly where she was._

_The toy fell from her hands, hitting the ground once and rolling a few feet away from her. She stepped closer to pick it up again, the sound of giggling children echoed around her. The toy floated at the sound, navigating itself through the trees toward it._

_Astronema followed the hollow ball, quickly losing it amongst the trees as the sky became darker. The children's laughter faded and was replaced by a familiar evil laugh that grew louder as she continued through the small forest of trees._

"_Darkonda," she whispered, looking around her and still finding nothing in the dark._

_Finally, the forest ended and Astronema came to a clearing, finding the toy again and following it with her eyes as it floated to two small children playing there. The boy caught the ball and sat in the grass with the little girl, telekinetically holding the toy between them._

"_Is this your memory?" Astronema heard to her left, turning her head. "Or is it mine?"_

_When she looked over, the Red Ranger was standing there, demorphed and glaring at her._

"_I think I'm dreaming," Astronema replied softly, turning back to watch the children. "I'm dreaming about the day that I was taken away from you."_

"_You're not her," Andros said firmly. "I don't know who you are, but you're not her."_

_Astronema turned back to him angrily. "I know who I am," she said. "The real question is who you are –friend or enemy?"_

"_Was this your master plan, Astronema?" he asked with a scoff. "You uncover our relation to one another and I join you in your evil schemes? You really don't know who I am."_

"_I know that we will have you on our side one way or another," she replied. "The prophecy has foretold it."_

"_You__are__not__Karone,__" __Andros__said.__ "__Even__if__we__share__blood,__even__if__you__really_are_my__sister,__you__'__re__not__Karone.__You__'__re__Astronema,__Princess__of__Evil.__"_

"_He's right, you know," a voice said from her right._

_Astronema turned her head, finding a second Red Ranger by her side. "There are two of you," she said softly._

"_No, there aren't," the newer ranger answered. "I'm not the Red Ranger."_

"_Then, who are you?" she asked_

"_I am the other –the one you should have looked out for," he replied, snatching away the locket from around her neck. "My power surpasses that of the Red Astroranger, so trust that my name will come up soon."_

_Astronema heard the same familiar evil laughter, recognizing it as Darkonda and looking back to the boy and girl playing. But they were gone._

"_He only took me," she thought aloud, taking a step forward into the clearing. "He was only supposed to take me."_

"_He took us both," Andros said._

"_But he was only supposed to take me," she said again. "Why did he take you?"_

"_He was supposed to," the other ranger replied. "He made a mistake."_

-0-0-0-0-

Astronema awoke with a start, quickly sitting up in her bed and grasping the locket around her neck. Somehow she knew that her dream was more than just that. Either the Red Ranger had invaded her mind or her dream was trying to tell her something. She decided quickly that it had to be an invasion of her mind. After all, the idea of two Red Astrorangers was preposterous.

But how dare he tamper with her dreams. His presence there had left her a little shaken and she knew that she would not be able to sleep again for several more hours.

She walked out of her room to the bridge of the Dark Fortress, stopping in front of the main viewing screen. She heard a door slide open behind her and turned to see Ecliptor entering.

"Have you located Darkonda yet?" she asked before he could greet her with a bow.

"I have," he replied. "Darkonda will likely lie low for a little while until the rangers are at their best again."

"But if he attacks now, he'd probably win," Astronema said. "I suppose he's attempted some twisted version of honor. My only worry would be what might happen to the Red Ranger. If Darkonda destroys him, Dark Specter will destroy _me_…"

"So when do we make our next move?" he asked.

"We make no move until after Darkonda makes his," Astronema answered. "And the sword should be draining his energy quite significantly by now. The urge to wreak havoc will be too strong for him to resist attacking the rangers."

"But what happens if he attacks us first?" Ecliptor asked.

"He won't," Astronema said, though there was a hint of worry in her voice. "But if he does, we should have more than enough firepower to take care of him."

"Then why don't we attack him before he ruins your plan?" Ecliptor asked.

"As long as Darkonda has the weapon, we don't bother him if he doesn't bother us," Astronema answered. "He's not seeking revenge on either of us, not even the rangers… To him, it's all for sport and he'll get the most enjoyment out of fighting the Power Rangers. You saw how eager he was to attack the Red Ranger when he was on Eltar and how much he wanted to do hand-to-hand combat with the rangers when he left the pods for them to find. I held him back for that very reason, so that the desire to fight the rangers wouldn't fade. That's why I can't be too worried about Darkonda coming here."

The main viewing screen flickered and Sadi's image appeared on the screen, holding a small white box in her hands. Astronema turned from Ecliptor to face Sadi.

"Back so soon?" Astronema asked somewhat excitedly.

"I have the Karovan dorig," Sadi said. "But I don't think it'll work once I leave KO-35 and I don't know of any children to give it to. There aren't any here."

"I explained to you before that the dorig will work as long as a child uses it," she replied impatiently. "You have the dorig, now find a child."

Sadi shook her head to herself with a sigh.

"What about this Talli that you mentioned before?" Astronema suggested. "Use her."

"I never mentioned Talli to you," Sadi replied.

"You must have been thinking it then," Astronema said with a sly smile. "And she's already connected to the Red Ranger… She's perfect. Use her."

Sadi hesitated a moment, finally nodding before disappearing from the screen.

"The only way that we'll be able to get the Demon Sword of Kurakk from the rangers is through that child," Astronema said. "But Darkonda still has to make his move."

-0-0-0-0-

"What do you mean '_with_ Sadi'?" Aeden asked Zhane after a lengthy discussion of Zhane and Andros' expulsion and return to the Astro Megaship.

Zhane let out a sigh and lowered his head a little, glancing up at Aeden after a moment. "I'm not explaining it again," he said, shaking his head. "I already feel bad enough without you throwing in your two cents about it."

"Believe me, I have no plans to revisit your… ordeal with Sadi," Aeden said. "Thinking about it makes my head hurt too much anyway."

The rangers had all been on the bridge explaining things to Aeden and Lyell for about an hour, having at first left out a few key issues such as Zhane and Sadi's brief tryst and the news that Astronema had given to Andros earlier that day. But none of them seemed to be in much of a hurry to divulge that information, though Zhane seemed to let more and more of those details slip.

"And Sadi was really working for Astronema?" Lyell asked somewhat sadly, looking up at her younger brother for the truth. "You're sure it was really her?"

"It was her," Zhane said. "Trust me on that."

"Then why was she here?" Aeden asked. "There had to be more on her agenda than what she accomplished –_if_ she actually did anything."

"We believe that she accomplished a lot," T.J. said. "She managed to exhaust us physically and emotionally while she was here and planned to use the Demon Sword of Kurakk's power to drain us of the rest of our energy."

"And because of her, Astronema knew where we were and what we were doing the whole time she was here," Ashley added.

"Blackmail and lies," Aeden said, shaking his head. "I can't even say that Sadi's changed over the past two years. She's the exact same person… No, not a person –"

"At least she gave the morphers back," Lyell said, interrupting him suddenly. "And she gave up the ship… So what is our mission exactly?"

"We have to save Zordon," Zhane replied. "And somewhere along the way we also have to get back the Demon Sword of Kurakk and Andros' Spiral Saber."

"I can track Zordon now that the Demon Sword of Kurakk is gone," Esson said. "It is my belief that Sadi mentioned it to the A.D.A. Galactic Force and they felt obligated to make it a priority."

"And how much would you bet that Astronema never once thought about the Demon Sword of Kurakk before she teamed up with Sadi?" Cassie asked.

"But can we really get it back?" Lyell asked. "If touching the sword is dangerous, what are we going to do to get it? And what are we going to do with it _if_ we get it back?"

"_When_ we get it back," Andros corrected her. "It'll just be our job to protect it for a while. If it really plays a role in the prophecy against us, maybe we'll learn enough about it to know how to defeat it. And I'm not going to get the Spiral Saber back… Just consider it gone now."

Aeden began to pace the bridge a little, deep in thought about everything that he had just heard. When he stopped in his tracks, on his face was a look of confusion. "Are we really worried about this Astronema person?" he asked. "I mean, none of you have fought her one-on-one yet, so she can't be as powerful as she probably thinks she is. If we take out Astronema, all we have to do is –"

"Not an option," Zhane interrupted, glancing back at Andros. "We can't destroy her. She's… human."

"Human?" Aeden repeated. "If she's responsible for half of the things that you guys have gone through, she can't _just_ be an ordinary human."

"Well, she is," Andros said, his gaze away from the others as his eyes clouded over with tears. "And we can't destroy her."

"Why not?" Aeden asked. "Maybe she's not really human. It could just be –"

"She's our sister," Andros said softly, lowering his eyes and waiting for his brother to respond. When he did not say anything, Andros looked up at him and found a similar sadness in Aeden's eyes.

"She's Karone?" Aeden asked softly, waiting until his brother nodded before continuing. "It's not a trick?"

"No," Zhane said. "She had the locket. It was her."

The bridge fell silent as they all recalled Andros' reaction to Astronema's words and to seeing her locket. The anger and denial were suddenly gone from him and all that remained now was defeat.

"Is there any chance of getting her on our side?" Lyell asked as she glanced around to see everyone else sink suddenly into a similar depression. "Then we won't have to worry about destroying her."

Andros shook his head slowly. "I wouldn't count on her joining us," he said. "And she couldn't be trusted even if it were a possibility."

"But she's still our sister," Aeden argued, although there was a hint of defeat in his voice. "We spent our whole lives searching for her and now she's… If we can get her on our side, maybe we can change how the prophecy ends."

"'Siblings of mixed blood on a path of evil'," Andros recited. "It was meant to be this way. Her against us."

"It was meant for us to fight each other?" Aeden exclaimed. "There has to be a way around this prophecy, some loophole that we don't know about… I mean, she's our _sister_ and we have to fight against her. What if we win? Does that mean that she dies? And if _we_ lose, we definitely die and the universe is destroyed."

"It's best not to think about it," Andros said with a sigh. "I've been doing my best not to."

"So what happens now?" Cassie asked after what had felt like a lifetime of silence.

"We fight and win," Zhane replied. "Losing can't be an option."

"That's not what she means," Esson said, not needing to read her mind as she gazed up at him sadly. "I was curious about it too."

"About what?" Andros asked, pushing away thoughts of the prophecy and Astronema.

"It's just that… I don't want," Cassie struggled to say, getting no comfort from Esson's hand in hers. "The Pink Astromorpher, it was Lyell's first. So, it belongs to her again, right?"

"It's yours, Cassie," Andros said firmly. "There are other Astromorphers if Lyell wants to be a ranger again, but _you_ are the Pink Astroranger. No one else is getting their morphers taken away from them if I can help it."

Cassie smiled gratefully at him, glancing over at Lyell for confirmation.

Lyell walked up to Cassie and smiled warmly at her. "He's right," Lyell said to her. "And I'd never take your morpher from you. Even if I wanted to do this again, it would be pretty low of me to take your powers from you."

"I'm nearing retirement age anyway," she continued, turning to the others. "I'm almost twenty-five now… That's why I can't understand why Sadi would come back to take away the Yellow morpher. The A.D.A. Galactic Force would have taken it away from her anyway in less than a year."

"Like I said, she had to have come for something else," Aeden said. "Did you have something valuable here?"

"Sadi wouldn't steal from the ship," Andros said, shaking his head.

"Yeah, she'd steal the ship itself," Carlos said.

"No… Well, yes," Andros replied distantly. "But she's always been about the emotional pain. If her aim was to cause physical pain, you can bet that it was Astronema's idea. If Sadi had her own goal, it would've been something psychological."

"Like pitting you and Zhane against one another by telling Zhane about Lyell and telling you that she and Zhane did… _things_?" Ashley suggested.

"For example," Andros answered with a nod. "But she waited before she mentioned it. She didn't mention it when we got back from Kurakk. She waited for something else to happen and then she was ready to go…"

"Your memory?" T.J. guessed. "That's something you didn't have before we came back from Kurakk."

"But she caused his memory to come back," Ashley pointed out.

"If she's evil and wanted Andros to think that he killed people, why would she help get his memory back?" Lyell asked.

"I'd hardly call it help," Zhane said.

"Why not?" Lyell asked. "She knew that Andros was attacking because of a certain memory and she knew that bringing up that memory would stop him from attacking us. It sounds like help to me."

"Don't kid yourself," Andros said with a sigh. "Sadi didn't do this to help us. She did it to hurt me… "

The thought hit him suddenly and he shook his head to himself, sighing again. It was so obvious to him now. Sadi only tortured him because of one thing and the only way that she could use it against him was with all of his memories intact. She still knew something that his new friends did not and without the right memories, she could not hurt him.

Now he had his memories back and it _did_ hurt. It hurt him a lot.


	33. Chapter 33

Ch 33

"You don't have to go right now, do you?" Cassie asked for the third time in five minutes.

Esson shook his head at her with a smile. "I've been here too long already," he said. "It's time for me to continue my mission just as you must do now that Sadi is gone."

Cassie looked down at her hands sadly as they parted with his. "I know you're right," she said quietly. "I just wish that you didn't have to go."

"I will return, Cassie," he replied. "You know that as well."

"Yes," she sighed, wandering around the space hatch a little. She knew that would not be able to say it and the awkward silences between them now only proved that he would not be able to say it either. He had already programmed his ship to find the Astro Megaship and it had arrived over a half-hour ago. He could have gone at any time, but he was waiting for her. He was waiting for Cassie to be okay with his leaving, waiting for her to say goodbye first. But the small talk would continue until one of them let the words come.

"Do you know where you're going yet?" she asked after a moment.

Esson nodded. "I'll go before the A. D. A. Galactic Force first," he explained. "If they have any other missions for me, they'll let me know. It's possible that they will ask me to go after Darkonda to get the Demon Sword of Kurakk back, but it's doubtful."

"Why's that?" Cassie asked.

"Because I'll tell them of the other seven rangers doing the same," he replied. "The sooner I can focus on finding Zordon, the sooner I can begin training another Phantom Ranger."

Cassie smiled. "You're really going to do that?" she asked, making her way back to him.

"I really am," he answered. "And I already have a few prospects in mind. I just have to find the time to start training them."

"So, how long will you be gone this time?" Cassie asked softly.

Esson lowered his eyes. "I'm not certain," he said. "I don't expect that I'll find Zordon in the next month or so, though I can only hope… Realistically, I suspect that I'll be gone for at least two to six months and maybe longer than that without a good enough lead."

"Oh," Cassie replied, lowering her own eyes. She had expected a long time, but she had held out hope for a couple of weeks or so, not half a year. "Well, that's not so long," she lied. "I can wait even longer if I have to."

"You don't have to lie to me, Cassie," Esson said, lifting his eyes to her again. "Even I'm not sure that I can stand to be away from you for that long."

"I could always go with you," Cassie suggested with a shrug.

But one look into her eyes and Esson shook his head. "As happy as that would make me, I could never take you away from your friends," he said. "It would only result in your unhappiness. You depend on your friends as much as they depend on you. I know how close you are to them and I would never want to be the reason that you parted from them. You're also a very important member of the Astroranger team."

"The Astroranger team just gained another ranger," she said. "And I wouldn't be unhappy as long as you were around. Being away from the Megaship would take some getting used to, but I wouldn't be unhappy."

"No, you'd just be lonely," he replied. "I already warned you before, Cassie. When I'm Phantom Ranger, I don't know how to be anyone else. Esson goes away until I demorph again and I'm just not productive as Esson."

"Of course you are," Cassie argued.

"I'm confident that you cannot name one important thing that I've accomplished as Esson since I've been here," he said.

"Esson told me that he loved me," Cassie said with a smile. "And that was very important to me."

"We both love you… but Esson didn't help you fight in the caves," he pointed out. "Or maybe he did and that's why we couldn't win on our own… But Phantom Ranger was the one who helped you in the past, not Esson."

"Why do they have to be separate?" Cassie asked. "You're Phantom Ranger and Esson, so why not be both at the same time? There doesn't have to be a distinction between the two."

"I suppose not," Esson said with a sigh. "But that could be my downfall… If I'm both, I know I can't focus on my mission. I'd only be thinking about you. And if you were living on the ship with me, I know that my mind would only stay distracted. After all, I'd be seeing you every day."

"So to reiterate, I can't go with you," Cassie said sadly, turning away from him. "I just have to wait here for you to contact me with one of your little floating machines again by accident, just like I did before. Or maybe when Sadi comes back and kicks everyone off the ship again, you can stop by again."

"Please don't be angry with me," he said, gently placing his hands on her shoulders. "But I can't risk your life, Cassie. If I'm distracted, your life and mine are in danger. And the danger associated with being Phantom Ranger is higher than what you face now. I could never expose you to that."

Cassie turned to him suddenly, her eyes angry for a second before becoming sad again. "Why is it this hard just saying goodbye to you?" she asked.

"Because you're afraid that it really would be goodbye," he answered, removing the Power Ruby from his pocket and holding it over his head with both hands. A burst of red energy emanated from the Power Ruby and surrounded Esson, making him Phantom Ranger again.

"This isn't goodbye forever, Cassie," he continued. "You know how I feel about you now and I'll find a way to get back to you… But we have to say it and we have to say it now."

Cassie looked up at him with tears in her eyes and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. It was not until she felt his arms around her that a few of her tears began to fall. "I'll miss you," she said.

"I'll miss you too," he said, giving her a small squeeze before releasing her. "Goodbye, Cassie."

Cassie said nothing, folding her arms in defiance of his words. Even now she could not bring herself to say it and he would not pull the word from her. It was already too painful to let him go after finally having him all to herself. And Phantom Ranger said nothing more, his image fading into nothing as he became invisible and disappeared completely from the ship.

"Goodbye," Cassie said softly.

-0-0-0-0-

Andros sighed as he walked up to Ashley's bedroom door, lifting his fist to knock but not sure that he wanted to bother her at the moment. After all, Sadi had finally left the ship and the rangers were able to relax for the first time in a while. They had all earned a little peace and quiet.

But as he lowered his hand and turned to walk away, the door slid open suddenly and he turned back to her room, greeted by Ashley's smile.

"I wondered if you'd stop by," she said, motioning for him to come into her room. "Another thirty minutes and I was going to find you."

Andros smiled a little, walking into her room and sitting on the desk by her door. "I figured I owed you a talk," he said.

"About what?" Ashley asked, sitting down on her bed.

"Um, about our…um," Andros stumbled awkwardly. "We agreed that we probably shouldn't talk about it but… we have to talk about our, um…"

"Our kiss?" Ashley guessed with a giggle. "How can we talk about it if you can't even say it?"

Andros blushed and glanced away from her, his nervousness still lingering.

"Are you regretting it now?" Ashley asked.

"No," Andros answered quickly. "I actually came to ask you if _you_ did. I mean, I wanted to make sure that it meant something to you too."

Ashley nodded. "Of course it did," she said. "But that's not why you're here… You came to tell me something."

"All that stuff that we decided not to talk about before we kissed," Andros started, fidgeting with his hands. "If our kiss meant something, then we have to talk about those things before it happens again."

"Okay," Ashley said with a nod. "I suppose we should talk about that fiancée of yours first, right?"

"Yeah," he said softly, lowering his head. "I proposed to Skye over six years ago and I did intend to marry her someday… But I didn't love her."

"Then why did you propose?" Ashley asked.

"Because she was pregnant," he replied.

Ashley's head snapped up at his response and Andros held up a hand before she could speak, struggling to find the right words.

"Not with _my_ baby," he finally said. "Her jerk boyfriend wasn't ready to be a father and he left her. All she did after he left was cry and worry, so I told her that I'd help take care of her and her baby. It wasn't that I didn't mean it… But I kept telling her all the things that she wanted to hear from her ex and before I knew it, I had backed myself into a corner."

"So that's why you and Zhane argued about her?" Ashley asked. "Because you never really loved her?"

Andros nodded. "I've always felt bad about it," he continued. "Finally, I'd just hoped that I'd learn to love her one day."

"Love doesn't work that way," Ashley said gently.

"I know that," he said. "I knew it then too. But I just didn't want to hurt her… But if –if you and I have… something, even if we can't call it love right now, then I needed you to know that."

It was quiet for a while. Ashley could not think of anything to say. She had hundreds of questions, but she was not sure that it was her place to ask. Though, she really had to wonder if he could really just abandon his fiancée so easily.

"It won't be easy," he said, interrupting her thoughts as he read them. "If Skye is still waiting for me, I agree that it'll be harder to break things off. And I'll feel like a jerk for the next few months or so, but I don't love her. If for no other reason than that, I should end whatever she and I have."

"Okay," Ashley said, letting out a breath.

"Is something wrong?" Andros asked, looking up at her.

"It's just," she began slowly. "I understand about Skye. I mean, you were about thirteen when you asked her to marry her and you felt sorry for her. I get that… But that's not why you're here, is it? There's something else."

Andros sighed. "Sadi," he said quietly.

"You and Sadi were _together_?" she asked, raising an eyebrow as she pulled his thoughts effortlessly into her mind.

"It was a long time ago," Andros replied. "And it only happened that one time. I never had a desire to do anything with her again."

"Why Sadi?"

Andros closed his eyes. "I don't know," he said with a shrug. "Convenience, I guess. She was there and no one else was… I only did it because I wanted to know what it was like."

"How old were you?"

"Twelve or thirteen –legal age," he answered. "And my brother had just gotten married and everyone was talking about relationships and sex and I guess I just felt kind of left out. Sadi offered to be my first, so I agreed and it was the most terrible thing I'd ever experienced."

"I'll bet that's one thing that you really regret," Ashley said.

"No," Andros answered, shaking his head. "I don't regret it… It was bad because I was thirteen and I had been told all these stories of how… intimate it would be. And it just wasn't. And Sadi didn't seem to care that it wasn't. But I don't regret it because it might have been the most important thing to ever happen to me."

Ashley stood up from her bed and sat beside Andros on her desk. "Only once?" she asked, nearly shuddering at the thought of him with… _her_.

Andros nodded sadly. "Go ahead and ask," he said, shaking his head.

"Ask what?" Ashley asked with a shrug.

Without a word, Andros pulled down the neck of his shirt and revealed a faded, light-brown circular scar on his shoulder.

"That's how you knew that Zhane was with Sadi," Ashley said softly. "I wasn't sure that it was my place to ask. But if you're telling me all of this, it means that our kiss really did mean something to you."

"_You_ mean something to me," he said, looking into her eyes.

"I'm not so sure," she said, though she reached for his hand.

"What do you mean?" he asked, squeezing her hand a little.

Ashley turned to him, waiting until he was looking into her eyes again before continuing. "I saw pieces of your vision," she said with a sigh. "And I felt that what you saw wasn't much of a surprise to you. Then, I remembered how calm you were when you let those poisonous needles stick you when we were in the caves."

"What do you want me to say?" Andros asked with a shrug, looking away from her.

"Well, I think you know something that you're not telling us," she replied softly. "And I think that it's something important."

"I can't," he said.

"Does it have to do with the Oracle telling you that you're going to die?" she asked, looking down at her lap and knowing that his eyes were on her again.

"How did you –?"

"I told you before that you said a lot of things during your vision," she told him. "I just wanted to see if you'd tell me to my face."

"I figured it would upset you to know," he said. "And I've tried not to think about it too much."

"If what you said to me is true and prophecies can't be stopped, then we can't just ignore it," Ashley said.

"I've chosen to do just that," he replied. "The Oracle told me not to worry about it and I've tried not to."

"How can you do that?" she asked, slowly leaning her head onto his shoulder. "I haven't stopped thinking about it since I found out… I just can't believe that you weren't going to tell anyone."

"I really just want it to come if it's coming," he said after a moment, leaning his head onto hers. "I'm not scared anymore… I'm kind of impatient."

"Then what do we have?" Ashley asked him, swallowing the lump in her throat that threatened to bring tears to her eyes. "If you can't wait to die and be gone forever, then what is this that we're trying to do?"

"You know it's not like that," Andros said, squeezing her hand again. "But I can't change anything, Ashley. If it happens, I want it to happen before you and I –"

"Get too close?" Ashley finished with a sniffle. "Then maybe we shouldn't bother."

"You don't really mean that do you?"

Ashley shook her head.

"Then I'll just follow the Oracle's advice and live my life well… with my friends," he said, feeling her smile a little against his body.

They sat together in silence for a while, their fingers still intertwined with all the newfound happiness that they hoped to have together. But their faces reflected all the sadness that came with the burdens she had just silently agreed to bear with him when he told her everything.

No, not everything.

"Ashley," Andros said with a sigh. "There's something else I have to tell you."

Just then, Ashley's door slid open again and they sat up just as Zhane poked his head inside.

"Sorry to interrupt," he said when Andros scowled at him. "But we've got an incoming transmission."

"So what?" Andros asked testily.

"It's Astronema," Zhane answered, watching the annoyance on Andros' face fade instantly. "She's opening communications with us. She's asking to speak with you and you only."


	34. Chapter 34

Ch 34

It had to be a trick, Andros thought to himself as he made his way down the corridor to the bridge. If Astronema wanted to talk to him, what else could it possibly be other than a trap of some kind?

He stopped in his tracks momentarily, wondering if he should even bother talking to her at all. So what if she was his sister. She was still evil and unless she had some information about Zordon, he really did not care what she had to say about anything.

He felt a gentle hand on his shoulder and he looked over at it, eventually meeting Ashley's eyes and continuing his walk to the bridge. The others were already there waiting for him as the impatient Astronema paced back and forth on the main viewing screen.

"I don't like to be kept waiting," Astronema said angrily as Andros walked into the room with a sigh.

"Next time, leave me a message then," Andros shot back with a frown. "What do you want?"

"I want the Demon Sword of Kurakk," she answered, folding her arms.

"As you already know, we don't have it," Andros said. "Darkonda, your partner in crime, stole it."

"Darkonda doesn't work for me anymore," Astronema said.

"Well after he stole the Demon Sword of Kurakk, I can't say that I'm surprised," Andros replied. "So I'll ask again, what do you want?"

Astronema smiled a little. "I need you to get the sword back for me," she said.

"That's funny," Andros said, though his expression showed no amusement. "You think that we'd fight Darkonda while he's _that_ powerful and hand over the weapon that we _might_ get back in the process and hand it over to you? How stupid do you think we are?"

"I'll answer your question with another question," Astronema said. "Did you know that an Oracle will speak to a child from its universe if the intentions are pure enough? It doesn't even have to be used on the planet of origin."

"Is that supposed to mean something to me?" Andros asked with a shrug.

"Well it seemed to mean something to Sadi when I mentioned it to her," Astronema smiled, watching the Red Ranger's eyes grow dim with worry and anger. "But if it doesn't mean anything to you, then –"

"What do you expect us to do?" Andros asked, frustration seeping into his voice. "I can't guarantee that we'll get the sword back."

Astronema let out a sigh. "That's very unfortunate," she said. "Then, I'll let Sadi know that she can bring the little girl here."

"Astronema," he said firmly as she prepared to disconnect the transmission. "We'll get the sword."

"Good," she said with a smile. "You have three days to get it to me."

"We don't even know where Darkonda is," Ashley protested, but Andros raised a finger to stop her words before Astronema could respond.

"If she's coming to us with this, then she probably knows that Darkonda will run into us first," Andros said, turning back to Astronema. "How do we contact you after we get it?"

"I'll contact _you_ when your time is up," Astronema said. "Just make sure to be careful, big brother."

"Goodbye, Astronema," Andros said, pressing a button to end the transmission.

"So that was her?" Aeden asked with a sigh.

"Yeah," Andros answered, still staring at the now blank viewing screen. "That was her."

"She kind of looks like your mother," Lyell said softly.

"I know," he muttered.

"So are we really going to give her the sword?" Cassie asked, putting her hands on her hips. "Because it kind of seems like one of those _huge_ mistakes that influences the prophecy… Maybe I'm wrong."

"I know," Andros replied.

"We don't have a choice," Aeden said. "When Astronema starts bringing kids into her plans, we can't take any chances."

"If using children is part of her plan, then won't she go through with it anyway?" Carlos asked. "I mean, this is kind of a trap no matter what we do."

"I know," Andros said quietly.

"We have three days to figure out what she's really up to," T.J. said.

"No, we have three days to get this stupid sword," Lyell corrected him. "She _was_ talking about using Talli, wasn't she?"

"Yes," Andros said distantly.

"And, like Carlos said, if Astronema already thought far enough ahead to use Talli, then we might not be able to protect her," Lyell pointed out.

"Well, we can't let Astronema get to her at all," Zhane said. "We always agreed to keep her as far away from this stuff as possible."

"I know!" Andros snapped. "I know. Just… be quiet and let me think."

It was quiet for a moment as Andros instead stopped thinking for a while and calmed down. There was no need to worry now. He had three days to figure everything out.

"Who _is_ Talli?" Carlos finally asked no one in particular. "I get that she's a kid and we don't want her to be part of Astronema's plan, but why did she choose _her_?"

It was uncomfortably quiet as Lyell and Aeden turned to Andros and folded their arms. "They don't know who Talli is?" Aeden finally asked.

Andros shook his head sadly. "I was about to –" he began.

"More secrets?" Carlos asked, rolling his eyes. "How many more secrets could you possibly have?"

"Just a few more," Zhane answered.

"Like what?" Ashley asked.

"Sadi," Andros said simply. "What I told you earlier… That was one of the big ones."

"What about Sadi?" T.J. asked, understanding when Andros lowered his eyes. "Not _you_ and Sadi?"

"You and Sadi?" Carlos repeated, shaking his head when Andros nodded. "And after all the crap you gave Zhane about sleeping with her, you were with her first? How long ago was this?"

"About six years ago," Andros answered, though he wondered why he felt so compelled to tell them. It was something from his past that really was not any of their business, but he had answered before the thought entered his mind.

"You don't have to answer anymore questions about it if you don't want to," Ashley said, putting a hand on his back.

"Apparently I do," Andros snapped at her, though he glared at Carlos.

"If we're going to be fighting your battles, then we need to know everything you know," Carlos said. "I understand how hard it is for you to talk about it and it's not like I don't care about how it makes you feel. Like I said, it's probably really hard for you. But _we're_ involved in this now… We have to know."

Andros lowered his eyes a moment and let out a sigh. "Then, stop fighting my battles," he said softly after a while. "I didn't ask you to and I don't need you to. I'll take care of everything myself."

"Andros," Ashley called after him as he turned and walked out of the room. "Carlos, why can't you just leave him alone?"

"That's easy for you to say," Carlos muttered.

"Meaning what?" Ashley demanded.

"Meaning that he's telling _you_ all this stuff," Carlos answered. "You don't have to ask because you probably already know. And he'd tell you anything that you asked him."

"How do you figure?"

"Oh come on, Ash," Carlos said, rolling his eyes. "Like we haven't noticed how close you two have gotten lately."

"Lately?" Ashley repeated. "He just got back a couple of days ago."

"I saw you two," Carlos said. "You were…"

"We were what, Carlos?" Ashley dared him.

"You kissed him, that's what," he replied. "And it happened the day he got back, which makes it 'lately'."

"Really?" Aeden asked with a smile. "He kissed you?"

"Well, he didn't tell me anything that you would need to know," Ashley shot back at Carlos, ignoring Aeden's question. "You were getting kind of personal back there, Carlos."

"He kind of volunteered the information about Sadi," Carlos pointed out. "I only asked one question about it, and yeah, maybe it was a little personal. But you can't deny that I'm right… We're being thrown into this prophecy with him and we don't know anything about it."

"Neither do we," Aeden said with a shrug. "We probably know about as much as you do right now."

"Maybe we've been too nice with our questioning," Carlos thought aloud, turning to Aeden. "Or maybe we haven't been asking the right person our questions."

Aeden stared back at him, shaking his head. "You want me to betray my brother by telling you all the things that he hasn't volunteered to tell you?" he asked rhetorically. "I think that I've managed to be one of the only people who hasn't ticked him off in the past two years and I'm not all that interested in changing that."

"We don't need to know everything," Cassie said. "I just want to know who Talli is."

"She's Sadi's daughter," Aeden answered, glancing at Zhane. "I'm a little surprised that she didn't mention her while she was here. I mean, didn't she tell you why she kicked Zhane and Andros off the ship in the first place?"

"Andros told me that he hurt her boyfriend," Ashley said softly, a bit uncomfortable discussing the whole thing without Andros around. "That wasn't it?"

"Well, sort of," Zhane replied. "Andros, Aeden, and I had run into Sadi and her boyfriend in the middle of the shopping district on KO-35. She had her little girl with her and Talli was acting kind of strange with that guy around, so Andros asked her if she was okay and she said no."

"But with Talli being only two years old, she really couldn't explain it to us," Aeden said. "But I felt a strange vibe coming off of that guy and I made the mistake of reading him. Then Andros and Zhane read me and, before I could stop him, Andros just started hitting him."

"What did Sadi's boyfriend do?" T.J. asked.

"He had done something to Sadi's daughter," Ashley concluded softly. "And Andros hurt him to keep it from happening again, right?"

Aeden nodded and put his hands into his pockets with a sigh. "By the time Zhane and I reacted, Andros had already done enough damage to put the guy in intensive care. And we were taken before the A.D.A. Galactic Force almost immediately."

"Is that when Sadi lost her morpher?" Cassie asked.

"Yeah," Zhane replied. "They said that she was unfit to care for her daughter, but had no authority to take Talli from her. So they took her morpher instead."

"And because they didn't blame Andros for reacting like he did, they were much easier on him that we'd expected," Aeden added. "They kept him in their custody for a couple of months, but they let him keep his morpher. Sadi wasn't too happy about that because she technically didn't do anything but she lost her morpher."

"She did enough," Lyell said. "She knew what her boyfriend was doing and she took no steps to end it. Taking her morpher away was too good for her."

"Zhane and I didn't receive much of a punishment because we weren't directly involved," Aeden continued on. "We got a lecture and a suspension from any ranger duties for two weeks or so."

"So what happened to Talli?" Ashley asked.

"She was released to Sadi," Zhane answered. "On KO-35, you can't take a child away from its mother based on something like that… It's kind of complicated."

"Well, why didn't Andros just tell us that?" Carlos asked with a sigh. "Did he think that we would care that he was in custody for a couple of months for beating up a guy who got what he deserved?"

"Maybe," Zhane said softly, deep in thought about it himself. "He still doesn't know you guys very well, so I never really expected him to talk about it. And I figured that he didn't want me talking about it either. That's the only reason I never mentioned it before… but you're right. It's important for you to know these things."

"Yeah," Ashley said, turning to leave the bridge. "It is."

-0-0-0-0-

Ashley's curiosity had reached its peak by the time she stepped off the Megalift. She had not realized how fast she had been walking until she reached Andros' door. She took a moment to catch her breath before knocking lightly on the door, preparing to be greeted by a testy and just as impatient Andros. But when the door opened, he glanced up at her with tears in his eyes.

"What's wrong?" Ashley asked, slowly walking into the room and sitting beside him on his bed.

"Nothing," Andros said, shaking his head until Ashley stopped him with a look. "I had another vision."

"What was it this time?" Ashley asked worriedly.

"Same as the last one," he replied. "The sword, blood, Darkonda laughing… It was the same, just more intense than before."

"Intense?"

"Painful," Andros corrected himself. "But I didn't hit my head this time and I stayed conscious, so you don't have to worry."

Andros stood up and reddened a little, realizing suddenly that Ashley was sitting on his bed. "So how much did they tell you?" he asked her, trying to hide his discomfort.

"Zhane and Aeden?" Ashley inquired, receiving a nod. "Quite a bit… You hurt Sadi's boyfriend because he had done something to Talli, right?"

Andros nodded again. "So, what did the others say?" he asked, folding his arms and preparing for the worst.

"Not much," Ashley replied. "We did wonder why you couldn't have just explained that to us… but I'm pretty sure that I know why you didn't. And the more I think about things, the more obvious it is. You didn't mention Talli very much when you got here and Sadi didn't mention her much either. Astronema knew that mentioning her would upset you and she made it seem like she got a reaction from Sadi too. Then there was that thing that you were going to tell me before we were interrupted, the thing you were going to say after you told me that you and Sadi had had sex once."

Ashley looked up at him sadly as he avoided her gaze. "Talli's your daughter with Sadi, isn't she?" she asked, waiting for his tiny nod before continuing. "I already had a feeling, but I ignored it because you told me that you were thirteen when you were with Sadi. I couldn't picture you as a father at thirteen, but then you told me that you didn't regret being with her and I couldn't think of any other reason why you _wouldn't_ regret it… But it's true, isn't it?"

"Yes," Andros whispered, lowering his head.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Ashley asked softly. "We'd have understood everything… We'd have known why you wanted to give up your morpher when you came back from Omni-8. And why you seemed so angry and so sad all the time. We'd have –"

"You wouldn't have understood anything, Ashley," he interrupted.

"Of course we would have," she said. "We were willing to let you lead us whether or not you had killed three people on Omni-8. We were willing to be your friends… If this is about you and me –"

"It isn't," Andros said firmly.

"Then why?"

"Because I didn't know who she was," Andros snapped, a tear falling down his face. "I came back to this ship with no real memories of what happened on Omni-8, even with no memories of things that had happened to me in my past. Not too long ago, I thought that she was my little sister until Zhane corrected me… But I wouldn't have told you about her if I had remembered everything because I had no reason to. I've tried my best to keep her away from all this stuff and I'll keep trying as best as I can."

"You didn't know who she was?" Ashley asked, struggling to hold back her own tears. "They made you forget that you had a little girl?"

Andros let out a shaky sigh and leaned back against his bedroom wall. "That's what Sadi was waiting for me to ask her about," he said. "She was waiting for me to ask about our daughter, her only real means of torturing me and I believe that's the only reason she wanted me to have my memories."

"Did she keep Talli away from you?" Ashley asked.

"No," Andros answered gently. "She did the exact opposite… Sadi waited until she was noticeably pregnant before she even told me about it. I think she was worried that if I knew ahead of time, then I might've asked her to get rid of the baby. But she said that she decided to tell me because she didn't want it anymore."

"Anymore?"

"Sadi already told you that she's half-human," Andros began.

"Like you," Ashley said with a nod.

"Not like me at all," he said. "My father was human and my mother was Abruxian, just a different kind of human. Sadi had half-human parents, but the other half were monsters and they definitely didn't look human. Their children had some physical traces of humanity in them and it bothered them. She always wanted to impress them with the awful things that she did, trying to prove that she could reject the part of her that was human. I still have this feeling that Sadi hoped that by being with me, she could accomplish what her parents couldn't –two half-humans creating something that wasn't human. But she didn't know that Abruxians were humans too and when she found out that she was carrying a human baby, she didn't want it anymore."

"She took your virginity and ruined your life to prove something to her parents?" Ashley asked. "She really is sick."

"She didn't ruin my life," Andros said in frustration. "Stop saying things like that… I told you that being with Sadi was the most important thing that ever happened to me. I became a father but that didn't ruin my life."

"Andros, even discussing this now, you're upset," Ashley pointed out. "How can you say that Sadi didn't ruin your life?"

"This ruined my life," Andros said, holding up his arm and revealing his Astromorpher. "If it weren't for this, I might have had a more normal life. But I chose this… I've chosen it over my own daughter many times before and that's the only thing that I have regrets about. If I say that I regret being with Sadi, then how can I not say that I also regret being a father?"

"It isn't the same," Ashley said, shaking her head.

"How is it different?" Andros asked. "To say that I wish that I had never been with Sadi, that takes Talli out of the picture, right? I can't have regrets about decisions that can change someone else's life… or take it away."

"Then, do you wish you had been able to go home to her instead of staying here with us?" Ashley asked quietly.

Andros shook his head to himself. "You want me to say yes and prove my own point?" he asked. "Saying yes means I choose my daughter over you… but I –"

"You don't have to finish," Ashley interrupted, staring down at her lap. "Like you said, this isn't about you and me. This should be about her… What are you going to do when you find her and the other Rebels? Stay behind, take care of her? …Marry Skye and give Talli a mother and a happy ending all wrapped in a pretty bow?"

"So this _is_ about you and me," Andros said, folding his arms.

"What are you talking about, Andros?" she asked. "There's no 'you and me'…"

"So half an hour ago, everything that we said to each other meant… what?" Andros countered. "I mean, I told you that you mean something to me."

Ashley let out a sigh. "What _do_ I mean to you, Andros?" she asked tearfully. "We barely know each other, but we kissed and now you say that I mean something to you. But what? …Do you love me? Are you telling me that you're going to break your engagement with Skye for something with me that won't even last because you're going to die and –"

"Take it easy," Andros said, making his way to her as she buried her face into her hands when more tears came. "I know this is a lot to take in. But Ashley, I like you a lot… I share a telepathic link with you and I thought about you when I wasn't here. I don't think that I can say that I'm in love with you, especially not when I'm going to die. But I care about you and I liked kissing you –the kiss that you admitted meant something to you too."

"It did," she said, lifting her head and wiping away the tears on her face. "But what are we supposed to do?"

"Whatever we want," Andros answered, kneeling down beside her. "If Talli and Sadi complicate things between you and me, then I don't blame you… I know how disgusting you think I was to have been with Sadi and I know how weird it is for you to picture me as a dad."

"You don't know anything," Ashley said as more tears fell. "You don't know anything about who I am as a person at all if you really think that I wouldn't want to date you because you have a child or because you were with Sadi."

"I didn't say –"

"You didn't have to," Ashley said. "That isn't what this is about, Andros. Not for me… But you say that you like me. Didn't you say the same thing to Skye at some point? Didn't you tell me that you didn't mean what you said to her?"

"So now you think that my feelings for you are –?" he asked.

"I think that I've seen you hot and cold since I've met you," she said sadly. "You almost always say the opposite of how you really feel. You say that you're fine when you're not. You keep things from me and the others. Then you get angry when we find out and want to help you. And I don't know if that's just who you really are or if it's all an act."

"An act?" Andros scoffed. "I've never shown pride about leading Skye on… I told Skye that I'd marry her with every intention of marrying her and I told her that I loved her when I didn't. But I never kissed her or made love to her or even held her hand… But I've kissed you and held your hand because I lo– I like you. And I'm trying to be very careful with the words I use to describe how I feel about you because I know how hot and cold I can be."

He looked up at her and gently took her hand. "I would never lie about my feelings for you," he said. "But I can't promise that my feelings for you won't change either… They'll only get stronger as time goes by. And you'll know when they do."

"How will I know?" she asked.

"Because we're Oaeta," he answered. "The stronger our feelings for one another, the more connected we'll be. And as fast as you've been reading my thoughts lately, I'd say that we're pretty close already."

Ashley smiled a little. "Do you have a picture?" she asked after a moment.

"Of Talli?" he asked, smiling back as she nodded. "I've got something even better."

Andros stood up and gently pulled her to her feet, leading her out of his room and to the Megalift by the hand. In moments, they were on the Simudeck and he finally released her hand as he pressed a sequence on the Simudeck's wall panel. He quickly walked over to Ashley and motioned for her to hold her arms out. Though he received a confused look from her, she held out her arms and waited.

"Start simulation," he said, glancing over at Ashley nervously.

Immediately, Ashley felt her hands grow heavy in front of her and she looked down at them with a gasp as a baby girl with hazel eyes began squirming in her arms.

"Meet Kitallia," he said with a smile. "Nicknamed Talli by Zhane."

"She's beautiful, Andros," she said, holding the baby closer to her. "I didn't know that you could make people on the Simudeck."

"It takes time, but it's possible," he said. "It's just a modified Craterite that I shrank down and gave a face to."

"Well, she's gorgeous," Ashley replied, staring down at Talli with a smile. "She looks a lot like you."

"Thanks," Andros said sheepishly. "I made it before she was born to practice everything that I didn't know how to do –changing diapers and things like that. I made it look like her later and I've been adding onto this program since then."

"Adding onto it?" Ashley repeated.

"Level One-B," Andros called out, watching as the baby in Ashley's arms transformed into a laughing one year old that struggled out of Ashley's arms and clapped her hands happily as she took a few steps toward Andros.

"She kind of has your hair," Ashley giggled, stooping down to get a better look at Talli.

Talli turned to Ashley, revealing the blond hair on the left side of her head and pulling a bow off her head that held up the brown hair on the right with a smile.

"I kept going with the program to make a playmate for Talli," Andros said. "But sometimes when I had to leave on missions and leave Talli with my mother, I'd just sit in here with this program and listen to her laugh or watch her play. It was the only way that I could bear leaving her behind for longer than a day."

"She was sitting on your lap that day that I saw you in here, wasn't she?" Ashley asked, standing up straight again. "The night that you came back from Omni-8, you were here and you stopped a simulation that I never saw… It was this one."

"Yeah," Andros said. "Even then, I missed her but I didn't know who she was to me… I just knew that she was important and that I loved her."

"Do you have one for every year?" Ashley asked.

"Up to age three," Andros answered with a sigh, picking up the simulated child that whined and stretched out her arms to be picked up. "I haven't seen her so I haven't aged the program. Anyway, I'd much rather see the real thing."

"I doubt that she's changed all that much in two years," Ashley said.

"I'm pretty sure that she has," Andros replied softly. "She's five years old now. Her hair's probably longer, she's probably made lots of friends by now, and she may have even lost her first tooth already. And I wasn't there to explain to her that it'll grow back… I've been wondering who _was_ there for her and who she brought all her questions to without me there."

"You left Talli with _your_ family, didn't you?" Ashley asked.

"I did, but Sadi had started developing this awful habit of wanting to spend time with Talli," Andros explained as Talli began pinching the bridge of his nose and laughing. "She kept changing her mind about wanting to be in Talli's life and I couldn't legally keep her away from her daughter, so I wanted to give her a chance. Even now, I'd never want Talli hating her mother. But in the end, Sadi was always Sadi. She'd leave her by herself when she was a baby and forget to feed her… During the evacuation of KO-35, when all the shuttles left for the planet Yur-ik, she left Talli behind."

"It wasn't a mistake?" Ashley suggested.

"No," Andros sighed. "I had hoped that it was an accident and that in the panic, Sadi had forgotten that Talli was there… But I found Talli in Sadi's house all by herself… She was so scared when I found her that she wouldn't come to me. I don't even think that she knew who I was anymore and she had seen me as the Red Ranger her whole life. So I demorphed and she still kept screaming. She finally cried herself to sleep once we were back on the ship."

"That's awful," she said as Talli reached for Ashley to pick her up next.

"I confronted Sadi about it once we got to Yur-ik," Andros continued, smiling a little as he let Ashley take Talli from him. "And she told me that she left Talli behind because if she hadn't, Talli would have slowed her down. I thought she was just messing with me until I saw how close she was to actual tears."

"She actually said that?"

"She did," Andros replied. "And knowing how Sadi can be, I was still more shocked to hear her say what she did than to see the tears in her eyes."

There was silence between them as Ashley wondered what she could say to him. She looked sadly from his hurt expression to the playful one on Talli's face as she held the girl close to her.

"Andros, I –" she began until DECA's alarms began to sound.

"Stop simulation," Andros said quickly, waiting until the little girl disappeared from Ashley's arms before looking up at DECA's camera. "What is it, DECA?"

"Darkonda is attacking Earth," DECA replied. "The others are in the workbay waiting."

"Tell them we're on our way," Ashley said when Andros froze at the mention of Darkonda.

She could feel what he was thinking and she could not help thinking it too. It was time to get the Demon Sword of Kurakk back and it would not be an easy task. Of course, now there was the added pressure of protecting Talli from Astronema as well as the vision of Darkonda and blood.

He thought of the vision more than anything else, suddenly aware that his death would leave Talli without him for the rest of her life. She would be without her father just like he had been for years. Maybe she would be better off without him in her life, he thought to himself. She probably would not even miss him, if she had bothered to miss him now.

"Stop thinking like that," she said. "You'll come back from this, Andros. We won't let you die, not today."

"Right," Andros replied with a forced half-smile that revealed every ounce of fear in his mind to her. But before she could say another word, he was already halfway to the Megalift. "Let's get that sword back."


	35. Chapter 35

_**NOTE:**_

_I have been told by a few friends of mine that this particular chapter is a little heavy and therefore readers should be forewarned that things get a little rough in this chapter. 'Rough' refers to a main character bleeding to near death. And for better or for worse, this chapter lingers on that moment for a page or so, which leads me back to the warning. While not especially graphic, it is not for the sensitive either. Happy reading!_

Ch 35

"Come out and fight me, Red Ranger," Darkonda shouted as he struck the wall of a tall building with the edge of the Demon Sword of Kurakk using a powerful stroke. The base of the building crumbled and Darkonda laughed evilly as he watched several Angel Grove citizens exit the building before it finally fell.

"You can't hide from me, Red Ranger!" he shouted to the skies. "Face me!"

"I've never been a fan of hiding games," Andros said, shooting his Astroblaster at Darkonda several times as he zipped by on his Galaxy Glider.

"Neither are we!" Zhane said, striking Darkonda with the blade of his Silver Silverizer.

Darkonda staggered backward, looking at the Demon Sword of Kurakk curiously. "It's not working," he said to himself.

"Something wrong, Darkonda?" T.J. asked, attacking him with his Astro Axe just as Carlos hit Darkonda with the Lunar Lance.

Darkonda began to laugh now as he stared down the rangers, momentarily glancing down at the sword. It was only now that he finally realized how little of the rangers' attacks he had actually felt. Maybe the sword was working after all. His eyes glowed as he prepared to the release the energy against the rangers, his concentration broken when he felt several hits from behind and he turned to see the Yellow and Pink Rangers standing triumphantly in front of him with their weapons aimed at him.

"Is that the best you can do?" Darkonda asked, quickly regaining his concentration and sending a blast from his eyes that had more than amplified since the rangers had last fought him.

Darkonda walked toward the fallen Astrorangers, laughing as he got closer and closer. His laughter ended when sudden barrage of bright spheres of energy struck his body, sending him down.

"The Green Astroranger?" Darkonda growled, gripping his sword tightly and planting its tip into the ground to pull himself up as Aeden helped the others to their feet.

"I take it you didn't enjoy my Stellar Flare Blasts?" Aeden asked, aiming his hand at Darkonda and opening it, revealing a small device in his palm that clicked briefly before sending out several of the same small spheres surrounded by green fire that had hit Darkonda before. But this time, Darkonda was able to block the attack with the Demon Sword of Kurakk.

"Six rangers or seven, I can destroy you all," Darkonda shouted, charging at them with his sword.

"Combine your weapons," Andros said, firing his Astroblaster at Darkonda as he charged. "Fight him like you fought the Dolo-Uham Nir. Use the training that Sadi gave you."

The rangers all fired against Darkonda at once –the Quadroblaster, the Silver Silverizer, and the Stellar Flare Blasts. But Darkonda was not fazed by the attack and the Demon Sword of Kurakk began to glow ominously in his hand, its red glow spreading to his entire body. The monster thrashed around violently as the glow grew brighter and brighter until, in a sudden blast, the rangers were sent flying back.

"You don't really think that you'll win this, do you?" Darkonda asked with a laugh as he sped toward the Red Ranger and lifted him by his neck, throwing him against a nearby building. "I told you when we last fought that this was a fight between you and me, Red Ranger. Your friends can all live if they stop fighting all your battles for you."

"I don't need them to help me beat you, Darkonda," Andros said, quickly aiming his blaster again and firing as the others fired at Darkonda's back. Darkonda fell to the ground again, the Demon Sword of Kurakk still gripped tightly in his hand.

"I think that sword is making you sloppy, Darkonda," Aeden said. "Why not let us take it off your hands?"

But even while on the ground, the red glowing energy around Darkonda forcefully struck out in all directions and the rangers found themselves joining Darkonda on the hard ground. Darkonda allowed the energy around him to lift him to his feet and he laughed.

"Sloppy, am I?" he asked. "Not only does this sword act as a shield against all your pathetic attacks, but it's been absorbing the energy from them as well. And that energy only transfers to me… If I absorb anymore of your attacks, I'll be unstoppable!"

"Until the sword destroys you," Zhane pointed out.

"It's true that the Demon Sword of Kurakk drains me of my life energy," Darkonda said. "But thanks to Dark Specter, I have plenty of lives to spare and the sword grows more powerful with each life it consumes. Fortunately for me, you don't have more than one life to spare."

The rangers stood in front of him, unsure of what to do next. This was a fight that they could not win, not with weapons anyway. But Andros' mind was racing now. Fight or lie down and die. Those were always the choices and this time they might both result in death… _his_ death… The death that would start the prophecy and rip him away from his family.

It was moments before Andros realized that the others had begun to fight again, discarding their useless weapons to go hand-to-hand with Darkonda instead. He charged at Darkonda, allowing the others to distract him briefly as he unsheathed Darkonda's old sword and swiped at him with it. The sword connected, but as he had expected, the strike had no effect on Darkonda.

He was not thinking clearly. Weapons would not work on Darkonda. He already knew that. But there had to be a way to get Darkonda to drop that sword.

"What do you think you can do with that?" Darkonda laughed.

"Take you down," Andros replied as he blocked a strong strike from the Demon Sword of Kurakk, countering with his own. Darkonda's old sword's blade erupted in flames as he swiped at the monster, which seemed to surprise Darkonda as he staggered backward.

"I don't know how you're able to use my sword, Red Ranger," Darkonda began, the red glow of his body transferring to the sword suddenly and leaving it as a blast that sent Andros flying back without Darkonda's sword. "But you were lucky to have lasted this long and you'll need more than that to beat me today."

Almost seconds later, Darkonda rushed at Andros using a speed that rendered him nearly invisible, laughing as he grabbed up the Red Ranger.

"Astronema stopped me before, but the sword seems to be crying out for you," Darkonda said, pressing Andros against something hard with one hand on his neck and preparing to thrust in the Demon Sword of Kurakk with the other. "And who am I to deny its request?"

Andros glanced quickly from the sword to the others, who all ran to his aid, the moment beginning to slow down in his mind as Andros realized that he was against a tree. A tree… Darkonda's laughter… Next would be blood unless he got out of Darkonda's grip. But he could not. Other than Darkonda's steadily increasing strength keeping his back to the tree, the sword itself seemed to be paralyzing him. His legs could not move, nor could he reach down to grab his Astroblaster. And now he could feel his airway closing as Darkonda applied more pressure against his throat.

The others had already drawn their blasters, hesitating to fire in fear that they might hit Andros. Any efforts by the rangers now would only get someone hurt. And anyway, the blasts would not be enough of a distraction to allow Andros to get away. So Andros could only watch helplessly as the rangers continued to run to him while Darkonda slowly moved the Demon Sword of Kurakk toward him.

But in reality, it had only taken a split second. The pain was instant, yet surprisingly brief. However, the blood had started to flow in volumes and Andros looked down at his hands, only now aware that he was no longer morphed. Beyond his bloody hands was the Demon Sword of Kurakk, firmly skewered through his abdomen and stuck into the tree behind him.

'But the desire to wield its power is dangerous and it is not to be underestimated. Such desire will consume others and will ultimately result in your death.' That's what Iides had said to him. And he knew now that this was it. It was Darkonda's need to possess it, the rangers' need to get it from him, and even his desire to save Talli that had led to this moment.

Everything seemed to be moving as slowly as it had seemed before the sword had pierced his flesh. There was no sound anymore as Darkonda pressed him firmly to the tree to free the Demon Sword of Kurakk and he had somehow been spared any pain that should have accompanied the sword's movement. Andros was certain that Darkonda was laughing as he sped away with the sword at full speed, a blur that quickly left them all. But the Silver and Green Rangers soon called their Galaxy Gliders to follow him, their bodies tensed and fists clenched tightly.

Ashley had briefly called after them before demorphing and turning her attention to Andros. He could not hear what she was saying to him as his legs gave out and he slid down the tree to the ground, but she seemed calm enough so it may not have been as bad as he thought.

But she had tears in her eyes as she said things to him that he could not hear. But she and everyone else soon became a blur as he fought to keep his eyes open. She and the others finally faded into darkness for a while until the brightness of the sun began to shine directly into his face and he opened his eyes again at the sudden warmth. Sound slowly returned to him as the incessant siren of an ambulance passed by.

Andros turned his head, finding Ashley on his right and holding his clammy, blood-stained hand as Carlos kneeled by her and applied pressure to Andros' bleeding wound with both hands. T.J. did the same to the wound in his back, while Cassie held up Andros' feet about a foot off the ground –probably things that DECA had instructed them to do. Zhane and Aeden were still gone and he would have asked where they were had the first words out of his mouth not been preceded by blood.

"Don't try to talk," Ashley said gently, smoothing back his hair. "The emergency room is packed, but they're sending doctors out here as soon as they can. Just hold on."

"I'm okay," Andros managed to say with a shiver. "It doesn't hurt."

But a sudden squint of his eyes as Carlos applied slightly more pressure to his stomach proved otherwise.

"You're a terrible liar," Ashley said, smiling a little. "Now stop talking."

"How bad is it?" Andros asked, looking into her eyes.

"Not too bad," Ashley said with a sigh. "But you'll be okay if you stop talking."

"You're a better liar than I am," Andros said. "But not by much."

Ashley laughed tearfully as he smiled a little and shivered again. "Are you cold?" she asked worriedly.

"Kind of," he replied softly, his eyes beginning to close again. But he forced them back open and focused on Ashley's face. It was wet with tears as she grasped his hand with both of her own. He struggled to breathe over the small clump in his throat, knowing that it must have been more blood. He could feel his heart pounding furiously in his chest, seeming to beat faster and faster every second. As he focused on it, he found himself breathing just as hard and fast.

"Ashley," he said. "Where did Aeden and Zhane go?"

"After Darkonda," Ashley answered. "They haven't been gone that long but I'm sure they'll be back soon. Just… hold on."

"How did we get here?" he asked her, finally noticing the hospital in front of him.

"We teleported," Ashley said.

"What if someone had seen you?" he asked. "You said that we weren't supposed to…"

"You take priority over our secret," he heard T.J. say.

Andros looked down at the other rangers, who concentrated on pressing down on his wounds with tears in their eyes. They were realizing it now, he determined quickly as they pressed down harder to stop the bleeding. From the increasingly pale hue of his usually pink skin, they could see that the blood was flowing out of his wounds relentlessly and that their efforts were becoming futile.

"Thank you," Andros said to them with a small smile. "I'm sorry to be so much trouble."

"Didn't she say to stop all that talking?" Carlos asked him as Andros' eyes closed for a moment. "Stay with us, but don't talk."

"Yeah, you need to save your strength," Cassie said gently. "Focus on healing yourself. Zhane said that you could do that."

"If I could heal something this bad, I wouldn't have been so afraid of dying today," Andros replied, his breathing becoming more labored as his heart continued to beat faster.

"What do you mean?" Carlos asked.

"Carlos," Ashley warned with her tone, quieting him.

"Okay, I lied," Andros said suddenly, his eyes darting back and forth as he became somewhat anxious. "It's starting to hurt again."

"Good," Ashley said with a nervous smile. "I'd be more worried if you _couldn't_ feel it anymore. Pain means that you're trying to stay with us. The doctors are already here, so I'm going to move out of their way for a while, okay? But we're all right here with you."

But his eyes were closed now and he had become very quiet and still as she released his hand. A team of doctors and nurses swarmed around him, not daring to move him until they assessed the situation. It was a while before the rangers could make out anything that the doctors were saying to one another, but nothing of what they heard seemed good to them.

"What's his name?" a nurse asked as she began cutting his shirt off to reveal his wound.

"Andros," Carlos said when Ashley continued to stare ahead of her as the team worked on Andros.

"Andros, can you hear me?" the first doctor asked, shining a light into his eyes. When he failed to respond, the doctor continued her exam as the other doctors worked to stop the bleeding.

"There's probably about 1100cc's of blood on the ground," the nurse said, quickly hooking Andros up to a few monitors that they had rushed out with them. "Pulse is weak."

"Get the gurney ready," the other doctor ordered. "We have to get him off the ground."

"We can't move him as long as he's bleeding out like this," the first doctor protested.

"The wound goes all the way through," he pointed out. "I need to turn him on his side and stop the bleeding from over here."

"BP's 98 over 75," the nurse informed them. "Whatever we do, we have to do it now."

"We need to stabilize this kid first," he said, beginning CPR on Andros when they checked his pulse again and decided that they were not satisfied with what they felt.

Kid.

The rangers knew that Andros was not a kid, but he was not far from it either. At any rate, the word seemed to strip away any hope that they had for Andros' recovery. A kid was so innocent, so helpless… The word reminded them that they were someone's children, their parents' children –parents that did not know and could probably never understand the danger that they faced every day. And so all they had now was each other, so Andros just had to make it… He just had to.

"Let's move him to the O.R.," the first doctor said, pressing down on Andros' wounds and turning to a nurse as they prepared to move him. "Get as much O-negative to O.R.-3 as you can."

"Are any of you family?" another nurse asked the rangers as they watched the doctors lift Andros onto a gurney and roll him into the hospital.

"We're family," Ashley said, taking her eyes off of Andros only when he disappeared through the hospital doors. "And he has other family coming."

"If you could follow me, I'll need one of you to help fill out some paperwork," the nurse replied, motioning for the rangers to follow her inside.

"Is he going to be okay?" Cassie asked as they hurried inside.

"Your friend needs surgery and he's going to get it, but in the meantime, we're going to need as much information as you can give us," she said, leading them into the hospital's E.R. waiting room. She turned to face the solemn group and smiled. "You all did a wonderful job. Your friend would be in worse shape if you hadn't been there for him."

"Is there anything else that we could've done?" Ashley asked sadly. "Anything that we should've …?"

"You did everything right," she replied, placing a hand on Ashley's shoulder. "You got him here in enough time and I know he's not out of the woods yet, but he's a lot better off thanks to you all."

Ashley let out a soft sigh, her eyes filling with tears. Andros had been paralyzed just before the sword struck him, but she and the rangers had not been. They should have fired at Darkonda when they had the chance, but fear had stopped them. Fear had stopped them when she had promised him, not more than an hour ago, that he would not die today. And now it would happen because of their hesitation.

This was their fault.


	36. Chapter 36

Ch 36

Aeden and Zhane ran up the last flight of stairs of the hospital, leaving the stairwell that emptied into the waiting room of the main operating room where the rangers sat. The fear and shock of the day's events were plainly written on their faces and they did not even notice the out of breath Aeden and Zhane coming up to them until they began to speak.

"How is he?" Aeden asked, just barely able to contain his panic.

"We don't know," T.J. said, standing from the uncomfortable waiting room seats. "They said that it might take some time to repair any damaged organs. They never could figure out where he was bleeding from."

"After almost two hours, the big bleeding wound in his stomach wasn't enough of a clue?" Aeden asked in frustration. "No one's said anything to you about his condition at all since we've been gone?"

"No," Carlos answered, shaking his head. "But speaking of you two being gone, what were you guys thinking? We could've really used your help."

"We went after Darkonda and the sword," Aeden replied, his expression softening a bit. "That was our mission… I didn't see how badly he had been hurt. It all happened so fast… How bad was it really?"

"There was so much blood," Ashley whispered from her seat, resting her face in her hands. "He's dead. I know he's dead."

"He's not," Aeden said angrily. "He's okay… I can still feel him. He's alive."

"We left to get the sword," Zhane explained. "I figured it was pretty bad, but I knew that Andros was in great hands."

"We had no idea what we were doing," Cassie exclaimed. "If it hadn't been for DECA, Andros might've died."

"You'd have known what to do," Zhane said. "You see a bleeding gash, you cover it until you get medical attention. You teleported him, which was the right thing to do by the way, and he's okay. He's okay because of you guys."

"In a panic, we might not have thought to do any of that stuff," Cassie argued. "You don't seem to understand how scary this really was for all of us."

Zhane let out a sigh. "I'm sorry," he said. "But we didn't abandon you… We just –"

"Did you at least _get_ the sword back?" Ashley asked, moving her hands from her tear-streaked face.

"We did," Zhane said softly. "When the sword took another of Darkonda's lives, it left him weakened for a moment. We took advantage of that moment and got the sword. It's with Lyell now."

"I guess she was too busy to visit," Ashley concluded. "She's still mad at him for bringing her back to life, so –"

"Ashley," Zhane interrupted. "I know you're upset, but leave Lyell out of this."

"She's leaving herself out of this," Ashley pointed out. "Andros could die today and she's on the ship worrying about some stupid sword."

"No, she's on the ship worrying about Andros' daughter," Zhane replied. "Like Aeden said, we accomplished our mission… Andros wouldn't want us to forget about Talli. We got the sword for her. And Lyell isn't here because I told her to take the ship away from Earth so that Astronema won't know that we're still here."

"Hold on," Carlos said incredulously. "Talli is Andros' daughter? That was one of the secrets that he was afraid to tell us about? Well, not afraid to tell_ some_ of us."

Ashley looked up at Carlos and shook her head. "Why does it bother you so much that he tells me things sometimes?" she asked. "It's not like he told me _everything_."

"It's like I told him, we're fighting his battles," Carlos said. "We need to know."

"Well, you'll be entitled to know everything when you're laying in the hospital after fighting one of his battles," Ashley shouted at him, making a few people in the waiting room turn their heads to her. "But until then, lay off!"

"Calm down, Ashley," Zhane said, glancing around at the other hospital visitors that had started to stare at them. "In fact, let's all calm down. We all know that Andros will talk when he's ready. Let's just wait and see if he'll get the chance, okay?"

It was quiet for a while, except the shuffling feet of Aeden as he paced the floor to the annoyance of the others. Finally, he stopped in his tracks and turned to Zhane, glaring at him hard enough to get his attention.

"What?" Zhane asked.

"You knew," Aeden said, his eyes filling with tears. "You knew Andros was going to –He can't die… He can't."

"I didn't –" Zhane began.

"Don't lie to me!" Aeden exclaimed. "You knew. I know you did."

Zhane glanced from Aeden to the others and nodded. "On Eltar, when we used the Oracle, she told him that he was going to die before the prophecy began."

"Then you've known for a while," Aeden said. "You knew that he was going to die at any time and you didn't tell me? If you'd at least told _them_ then they'd have been prepared for what happened today."

"No, we wouldn't," Ashley said. "I knew about it too. And Andros was having visions about it, visions that I saw pieces of. But I wasn't anymore prepared than he was for what happened."

Aeden shook his head softly, his anger fading into sadness. "I didn't get to say goodbye," he said quietly.

"None of us did," Ashley said just as gently. "And none of us would have been able to… Would _you_ have?"

"No," he replied. "Did he say anything before he…?"

"He asked where you and Zhane were," Ashley answered sadly. "He was so calm through the whole thing… If he was worried, he hid it well. He was just so brave."

"Brave?" Zhane repeated with a smile. "That sounds like him."

"You really think he's dead?" Aeden asked Ashley.

"No," Ashley said, shaking her head. "But I don't think that he's okay just because he's alive. I think that he was in a lot of pain and he lost too much blood to be completely okay… and I'm scared for him."

"Me too," Aeden sighed.

Aeden finally took a seat beside Zhane, staring ahead silently at the doorway, hoping that the next doctor to walk through it would have some good news about his brother. Andros just had to be okay. He could still sense his twin, something that he would never be able to do if Andros were dead. He could even get into Andros' mind from where he sat, unable to make out coherent thoughts but able to prove brain activity at least. His brother was alive. Now he just needed someone else to say it out loud.

Finally, a doctor walked into the waiting room and headed toward the rangers as they got to their feet. The look on his face was one of concern as he approached them, but not of sadness which they hoped was a good sign.

"Is he okay?" Aeden asked him, preparing to hear the worst.

"Andros is alive," he assured Aeden and the other worried-looking teenagers. "He's out of surgery now, but he's still in critical condition in the I.C.U. A few minutes into his surgery, Andros went into cardiac arrest and we revived him with defibrillation after about eight minutes. We were able to repair his stomach as well as the arteries that were causing the bleeding. Just before we closed him up, he went into cardiac arrest a second time and we used electric stimulation again. But he went into asystole and we used I.V. medication to bring him back."

"Cardiac arrest?" Zhane asked. "Then he… died, right?"

"Clinically," the doctor said with a nod. "During that time, his brain was cut off from oxygen. So we won't know for sure if any damage was done to his brain function until after he wakes up."

"When will he wake up?" Ashley asked softly.

"I can't be certain," the doctor said. "It could be anytime in the next twenty-four hours. Any time longer than that and we'll have a reason to worry."

"Can we see him?" Aeden asked.

"Briefly," the doctor answered. "I'll take you to him now if you'd like, just two of you at a time."

"I'll go first," Aeden said, stepping forward.

"Ashley, you should go with him," Zhane said softly.

"You don't have to –" she protested before Zhane cut her off.

"I'm not ready just yet," he said with a nervous smile. "So, go. Come back and tell me that I don't have anything to worry about when you see him."

Ashley put a hand on his shoulder and gave him a grateful look before she and Aeden followed the doctor down the long hallway and past several patient rooms in the Intensive Care Unit. The three stopped in front of a small room and walked slowly inside. Ashley glanced over at Aeden, who seemed to be experiencing a similar apprehension upon entering the room. But they both took in a breath and held it as they stepped inside and saw Andros.

They could hardly breathe when they saw him. He was surrounded by small machines on wheels that connected several tubes and wires to him. Each machine seemed to create a noise in the room, but none was worse to hear than the sound of the ventilator as it forced air into Andros' lungs, making his chest move up and down in an uneasy rhythm.

"He's on life support?" Aeden asked distantly. "You didn't say that he… I thought…"

"We kept him intubated after his surgery because he had stopped breathing on his own," the doctor explained. "But if we're able to rule out brain damage, we should be able to wean him off of the ventilator by tomorrow."

"Can we stay with him tonight?" Aeden asked with a sigh, still unable to shorten the distance between himself and Andros.

"You should all go home and get some rest," the doctor replied. "Being here overnight won't change his condition."

"Someone should be with him in case he wakes up," Ashley said, standing by Andros' side and lightly stroking his forehead. "He shouldn't be alone right now…"

The doctor sighed softly. "If you insist, one of you can stay with him tonight."

"Only one of us?" Aeden asked.

He nodded. "Hospital policy," the doctor added. "And only family can spend the night."

"Well, you're his brother," Ashley said gently, turning to Aeden with a sigh. "You should stay with him."

"But you're his… wife," Aeden said, locking eyes with her and hoping that his lie did not sound as obvious out loud. "He'd want to see your face first."

"Are you sure?" Ashley asked him.

Aeden smiled a little. "I'm sure," he said. "I'll get to see him tomorrow with the others. I just wanted to see for myself that he was okay."

"Thank you," Ashley said, smiling back as Aeden took one last look at his brother and backed out of the room with the doctor.

She turned her attention back to Andros and sat down in a chair by his bed, holding onto his hand as the sounds in the room became less and less foreign to her.

-0-0-0-0-

Darkonda growled angrily as he walked onto the bridge of the Dark Fortress, easily defeating the quantrons that were quickly made aware of his presence by a blaring siren. He had expected as much from Astronema, knowing that he was risking another of his lives by returning to the Dark Fortress. But he had no other place to go now. He had been hired to do a job and, without the Demon Sword of Kurakk, he had no choice but to finish what he had started. All that remained was Astronema's approval.

"Darkonda," he finally heard Ecliptor's voice growl from behind him, "You dare to show yourself after your betrayal? I should destroy you."

"That pleasure belonged to the Power Rangers hours ago," Darkonda seethed as Ecliptor pointed his sword at Darkonda's throat. "They have the Demon Sword of Kurakk now and I'm here to help you get it back."

"_Help_ us?" Ecliptor repeated. "Astronema already has a plan to get the sword back. She has no use for someone like you anymore."

"There's always use for someone like me," Darkonda said with a laugh. "I'm the one who took care of the Red Ranger, after all."

A sudden strike to the back sent Darkonda staggering forward and he turned around to find the pointed end of Astronema's staff in his face.

"I told you before that the Red Ranger was not to be harmed," she said through gritted teeth, pressing her staff closer to him. "He was the only key to getting the sword back –the weapon that you stole from me."

"But I'm sure that it was all a part of your and Dark Specter's brilliant plan," Darkonda said nervously.

"We knew that the rangers would get the sword eventually," she replied with a nod. "We needed the Red Ranger's hands on that weapon. We still do and we will accomplish it with or without you."

"Then, you're giving me another chance?" Darkonda asked.

"I have no doubt that you'll probably betray me again once we get the sword back," she said, still keeping her staff pointed steady at him. "By then, it won't matter what you do with the Demon Sword of Kurakk… But if the Red Ranger dies before I carry out the plan, I'll make sure that you're destroyed for good."

"Just tell me what it is that you want me to do," he said.

"You've already been doing it," she said. "You've been following the Astro Megaship since the rangers defeated you. You know where they're headed with the sword."

"I saw that they were headed for the Enerba Galaxy," Darkonda admitted. "But I'm not sure which planet they were heading toward."

She finally lowered her weapon, taking a step toward Darkonda. "Follow the Megaship," she said. "That's your mission now. Find out why they're going there and wait for my orders before you come back. I'll contact you if I hear anything about the Red Ranger and let you know how to handle the plan from there. Until then, you're not to go after the Demon Sword of Kurakk. Your job is just to watch."

Astronema turned away from him, confident that he would never attack her as long as Ecliptor's sword remained drawn. She noticed his grimace from the corner of her eye as she looked ahead and shook her head at Darkonda with a sigh. She knew that he would not take kindly to threats, but this was it. They had skated by on Dark Specter's half-baked plan until now, but everything depended on the Red Ranger's actions –actions that could only be predicted if the rest of the plan was followed precisely.

"Know that the only reason you're alive is because you can do one thing well that I could trust no other monster to do," she said, walking away from him. "But remember that you're not the only monster that _can_ do it."

"And what's that?" Darkonda asked, genuinely curious about his role in the plan now.

"You'll be the one to start the prophecy," she said, still facing away from him as she smiled to herself. "If the Red Ranger lives, we'll make him wish that he wasn't."


	37. Chapter 37

Ch 37

Ashley's eyes fluttered open for the fifth time that morning, immediately looking to Andros. Each time, she had hoped to be surprised, hoping to meet Andros' opened eyes with a smile. But just as she had expected, Andros remained asleep, completely oblivious to the past twelve hours. And minutes would pass before the steady beeping of the machines would lull her to sleep again, only to wake up with the same hope and disappointment.

She was not certain now that it was morning anymore as she sat up straight in her chair and brushed her hands across her eyes in an attempt to unblur them.

"I didn't mean to wake you," she heard a voice say softly.

"Andros?" Ashley asked, perking up a bit and waiting for her eyes to focus.

"No," the voice said as its owner's face became clear.

"I'm sorry, Aeden," Ashley said with a sigh.

"It's okay," Aeden replied with a shrug, sitting in a chair on the other side of Andros' bed. "Not the first time it's ever happened to me. It's a twin thing, I suppose. Even Andros used to call me his mirror."

"Well, you _are_ identical," she pointed out.

"And yet, only a handful of people can't tell me from him," he said. "And you're not one of them."

Ashley lowered her eyes. "What do you mean?"

"You know the truth," he said, reading her as he spoke. "But the lie makes you feel better… It's just on the surface of your mind. You keep hoping that it's not him lying there. You want him to be sitting where I am, explaining how we switched places to avoid the prophecy… You want it to be me lying there…"

"No," Ashley protested quickly. "I don't want it to be either of you in here. I really don't. It's just… how do you know that the prophecy isn't about you?"

"You mean the 'sibling on the path of evil'?" he asked. "Could be, I guess… Andros and I spent most of our lives trying to prove that prophecy wrong. It wasn't until our mother explained it to us that we understood that whatever was going to happen would happen regardless of anything we did."

"Andros' dying wasn't in the prophecy that Sadi recited to us," Ashley sighed softly. "An oracle told him that."

"And now the prophecy finally begins," Aeden said.

"Meaning what exactly?" she asked.

"Meaning that now we really have something to worry about," he said, letting out a breath. "The fate of the universe is in our hands."

"Yeah, I suppose it is," Ashley said distantly, her eyes back to Andros as she took his hand in hers.

Aeden smiled a little as he watched her squeeze his hand. "I guess he still hasn't woken up yet," he said.

"Not yet," she said. "But he's off the ventilator now so he's breathing on his own."

"That's good," he said uncomfortably, looking around at all the other machines that Andros was still hooked up to. "That's one machine down, I guess."

"Yeah," Ashley nodded, glancing up and studying Aeden's expression a moment. "Thanks for letting me stay the night."

"You don't have to thank me for that," Aeden said with a wave of his hand. "Like I said, I'm pretty sure that Andros would rather see your face first when he wakes up."

"Hmm," Ashley replied.

"Hmm, what?" Aeden asked.

"It's just… I thought there might be another reason that you let me stay."

"Like what?"

"You tell me," Ashley said, her eyes daring him to speak truthfully.

Finally, Aeden sighed. "I don't like seeing him like this," he began. "The last time I remember being in a hospital was when our dad was dying. He looked just like this –nothing but machines and tubes. And I couldn't stand being in there, watching him die and pretending that we would be taking him home with us 'any day now'. It was too much. _This_ is too much."

"_This_ is different," Ashley said. "Andros is going to be okay. You know that."

"I _don't_ know that," he replied. "And last night, I couldn't get past those memories. The further into the room I walked, the more I remembered our dad… I thought I was past all that."

"I didn't know about your dad," Ashley said. "I knew it was bad from what Zhane had told us a while ago, but I didn't think…"

"It's okay," Aeden said, shaking his head. "He wasn't in pain as far as we knew. It was just kind of scary. Maybe if we hadn't had to watch him die, it wouldn't have been so bad."

"I'm sorry that you had to go through that," she said.

"It's fine, Ashley," he said. "All that matters now is that I'm here for my brother as long as he needs me."

"Yeah," she said, sitting in silence for a while. Finally, she turned back to Aeden. "So, why wife?"

"What?" he asked.

"You told the doctor that I was his wife," Ashley said with a smile. "You didn't have to say wife, but you did."

"I could've said that you were our sister," Aeden replied with a shrug. "But it might have been a little hard to explain if he woke up and you two kissed on the lips… Come on, Ashley. You and Andros are Oaeta; I wouldn't dare try to keep you apart."

"What do you mean?" Ashley asked amusedly.

"Didn't he tell you that you were Oaeta?" Aeden asked. "And what it means?"

"He told me, but it's just a mind-reading thing, right?"

"Is that how he explained it to you?" Aeden asked, wondering if he should be the one to tell her.

"He didn't lie to me about it, did he?" Ashley asked.

"No," he answered quickly. "But he definitely left out a few things, probably trying not to scare you away… It's just that Oaeta are people who are destined to be together."

"He said that our ability to read each other would get stronger as we got closer," she said. "So I figured being together was part of the deal."

"Yeah, but it's usually a forever kind of deal," Aeden said. "Most Oaeta are married or become Oaeta _after_ they get married. It becomes stronger when romantic feelings become stronger. But when you're apart, you both suffer."

"How do you know for sure that two people are Oaeta?" Ashley asked, wrapping her mind around the possibility that she and Andros might be able to have something deeper than 'like'.

Aeden shrugged. "Most people don't," he replied. "But I knew you and Andros were Oaeta yesterday when you told me he was dead."

Ashley lowered her eyes. "I didn't mean to –"

"You said it because that's what you felt," he interrupted. "You felt when he died and that's why you said that… I felt it too."

"It was pretty scary," Ashley thought aloud. "I felt the instant his heart stopped and I thought it was mine."

"It could've been," Aeden said. "Oaeta are very close like that sometimes. That's why I said that you suffer when you're apart. It can get to a point where your bond with him is so strong that you could lose your life if he loses his… You felt him die when you were trying to read him in the waiting room. You were looking for brain activity and you felt him so strongly because you were in his head."

"Have you ever felt that from him before?" she asked softly, looking down from her and Andros' joined hands to the light scar on Andros' wrist.

Aeden looked into her eyes and smiled. "That's not what you want to ask me," he said, shaking his head at her. "Just ask me already. No more secrets, I promise."

"I kind of figured that he had tried hurting himself before I met him," Ashley began slowly. "I just wondered if maybe he had…"

"It wasn't this serious," Aeden replied. "Andros was a cutter for a little while, the worst of it before he became a ranger. If he really wanted to kill himself, he didn't try very hard to do it. At least, not that I know of."

"Before or after Talli?" she asked.

"Things get difficult, Ashley," Aeden said with a sigh. "When he starts thinking about that prophecy and how much it will affect his family and friends, his mind goes into fight-or-flight mode. And he doesn't choose 'fight' because he figures that it won't change the prophecy or what will happen to him… It only drove him over the edge once -a couple of months after Talli was born. He knew that this prophecy could cause her a lot of pain and it was just too much for him, I guess."

"Life is always hard," Ashley said, raising her voice a little. "Why would he want to leave that beautiful little girl that he showed me? I know how much he loves Talli… If he doesn't want to hurt her, then he should be with her, don't you think?"

"Do _you_?" Aeden asked. "I mean, if Andros had listened to himself years ago and decided to give up his morpher for her, then he _might_ be happier. But I doubt it. Sure, he'd be with Talli but he'd never be able to protect her the way that he can as the Red Ranger. And then, he'd have never met you."

"Yes, but if we had let him leave after Omni-8, he might have been happier too," Ashley said.

"If it comes down to it," he began with a sigh. "If it _really_ comes down to a choice of staying on the ship with us or leaving to raise his daughter, what do you think he'd really choose?"

"I don't know," she thought aloud.

"He _won't_ make that choice," he answered. "He'd never make that choice. He'll always let someone else do it for him. This time, I suspect that Astronema will be helping him with that."

"You don't think that she would hurt Talli, do you?" Ashley asked, no longer wanting to think about Andros possibly leaving her again.

"No," Aeden replied. "But Dark Specter would and if Astronema knows about Talli, then he probably does too. Other than bait, I don't know how else they could use Talli in their plans. But they won't get the chance to do anything if Lyell does what I asked her to."

"What's going on?" she asked.

"I sent her and the others to the Enerba Galaxy," he said. "They should be back later today. I thought that maybe the ship should be away from Earth in case Astronema decided to follow us. The last thing we need to worry about is her taking advantage of the situation."

"That was a good idea," Ashley said. "But what if she was watching us? What if she's watching us now?"

"She wants the sword," he replied, shaking his head. "Astronema will follow the sword before she follows us. I'm sure of that."

"Hmm," Ashley said, smoothing back Andros' hair from his face and tucking the few uncooperative strands behind his ear.

She glanced up at Aeden, who she could feel was trying to reach his brother through his mind like she had done when Andros was in surgery. She watched him sigh a little as his eyes filled with tears and he leaned back in his chair.

"What did you read from him?" Ashley asked after a moment.

"He's dreaming," he answered distantly, allowing a few tears to fall down his face. "He's dreaming about the day that Karone was taken… Nothing especially new, I suppose."

"Then why are you crying?"

"I don't really know," he admitted with a shaky laugh, wiping his face when more tears came. "I was just letting my mind wander a little, I guess."

"To what?"

"I was wondering if he talked about home much," he said. "If he really thought about his family and friends… I wonder if he really thought about Talli at all… or me, for that matter."

"Andros isn't as much an open book as you are," Ashley said. "We all had to practically twist his arm to get him to talk, even Zhane. He never came right out and told me that Talli was his daughter. I had to guess… And no, he never mentioned you, but I assume that it would have been too painful for him to. Besides, he wasn't with us for very long and he wasn't in the most talkative of moods when he came back from Omni-8."

"I know," he said. "That's why I don't know why it's bothering me so much. I mean, it's kind of selfish to expect him to mention me when he's got so much going on in his life, isn't it? I can't even believe that the question even came to mind. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't be here right now. So even if he didn't think of me while I was frozen, I know he thought enough of me to save my life."

"Is that weird to say?" Ashley asked with a small smile. "Saying that you were frozen –it's strange to think about."

"It _is_ pretty strange," he replied. "And it gets stranger every time I have to say it. But I'm sure that Andros can top that strangeness any day of the week."

"Especially now," she said softly. "He can always tell the story about the time he died… And at least, he will have lived to tell the tale."

"Yeah," Aeden said. "He'll always have that."

Just then, Andros let out a light moan and scrunched up his face a little, his eyes fluttering open as he got used to the lighting of the room. He finally opened his eyes all the way, focusing on the ceiling before letting his eyes roam around the room and closing them again.

"Andros?" Ashley asked calmly, grasping onto his hand.

Andros opened his eyes again in response, waiting until he heard his name again before following her voice to find her face. "Hi," he whispered hoarsely.

"Hi," Ashley said, smiling as he squeezed her hand back. "How are you feeling?"

"Pretty good," he answered, looking down at the I.V. in his arm. "I think… I think I'm on morphine."

"I'm pretty sure that you are," she replied. "Don't get too used to it."

"Promise," he said, closing his eyes again for a moment. "Is everyone else okay?"

"They're fine," she nodded. "We have the sword and we still have time to get it to Astronema before she gets to Talli. Aeden sent the others to the Enerba Galaxy to keep Astronema out of our hair for a while."

"Astronema did something to your hair?" Andros asked groggily.

"_Out_ of our hair," Ashley said. "No more morphine for you."

Andros smiled a little. "Just having a little fun," he said. "I don't do that very much…"

"As long as you're in this bed, there are to be no more jokes," she said with a laugh. "You should keep resting."

"Who can think about sleep at a time like this?" Andros asked, struggling to sit up with a groan as the pain in his stomach stopped him. "It doesn't hurt that much anymore."

"Morphine only does so much," she said as he lay still a moment before trying to sit up again.

"I know," he replied, pulling the I.V. out of his arm and holding his hand over the small bleeding wound that he caused.

Ashley sighed. "You need rest," she said.

"I've been resting for too long already," he argued, succeeding in sitting up in his bed and letting out a long sigh. He looked around the room, finally seeing Aeden sitting by his bed. "There's my mirror," he said with a smile.

Aeden's eyes filled with tears and he blinked them back, knowing that he would not have to explain to his brother how he felt, nor show his feelings with tears. And within seconds, the tears were gone and the lump in his throat had shrunk down to nothing.

"I'm okay," Andros assured him.

"Yeah, I know," Aeden said with a nod. "Just stay that way for a while longer, okay?"

"I'll do my best," he replied. "Just keep me away from Darkonda and demon swords for a while."

"Can't promise that," Aeden answered with a sigh. "I can't promise much of anything anymore."

Andros studied his brother's eyes a moment. "I died, didn't I?" he asked, turning to Ashley when Aeden looked away from him.

"You did," she said. "Twice, actually."

"Oh," Andros said. "Well, that's… not good."

Aeden looked back to Andros, catching a small smile on his twin's face. "You died and you think it's funny?" he asked.

"It's not funny," Andros said in spite of his smile. "But it's over now, isn't it? I don't have to worry about dying anymore… The prophecy's going to start, because I died. That's why the oracle told me not to worry. She knew that I'd be okay… Why didn't I listen to her? All that stressing that I did was for nothing."

"Well, not for nothing," Ashley said.

"For nothing," Andros said, taking her hand in his. "All of it for nothing… "

Ashley nodded as she began to understand. All the tears she had shed for what she had been so sure that they could never have, it really had been for nothing. They had been so certain of Andros' death that the concept of a relationship with one another had seemed impossible and even unworthy of true interest. And now… now all they could do was smile at each other, knowing now that they had the opportunity to have much more.

"I think I'll go get a nurse or something," Aeden said, already backing toward the door. "You two just… keep doing what you're doing. You know, the whole happy thing…"

"Just go already," Andros said as Ashley walked toward him, taking his other hand as the door closed behind Aeden.

"So what does this mean for us?" Ashley asked.

"You once told me that there was no 'us'," he pointed out.

"You once told me that there might not be a 'you'," Ashley said softly. "So we're even."

"Okay, fair enough," he agreed as she moved closer to him and let him taste her lips a moment before pulling back from him.

"So?" she asked.

"I want there to be an 'us' as long as there _can_ be an 'us'," he said. "And what I really want is for you to say what I think you said to me before we teleported to the hospital."

"You mean when I told you not to leave us?" she asked, blushing a bit.

"Is that what you said?" he asked.

"Maybe what I actually said was along the lines of 'don't you dare leave me'," Ashley said, looking into his eyes and meaning the words more than ever. "And you'd better not."

"Not if I can help it," he replied, slowly leaning into her and kissing her again, already feeling that too much time had passed since their lips last touched. And as she continued to kiss him back, he knew that he could never leave her again.

Not ever again.


	38. Chapter 38

Ch 38

"So, what did he say?" Aeden asked, walking into the new hospital room that Andros had just been transferred to a few hours earlier as a doctor walked out, shaking his head.

Andros glanced up from his lap to his brother with a worried look on his face, extinguishing Aeden's smile.

"Hey, you're going to be okay, aren't you?" Aeden asked, closing the door behind him.

"Oh, well… yeah," Andros replied, resting a hand over his heart. "They aren't going to keep me here much longer. They said that I've healed quickly enough that they could probably release me later on today."

"Then, what's the matter?" he asked. "You look like you just got another death sentence."

"I've just been thinking about things," Andros said, now rubbing the aching spot on his chest. "Mostly about Talli and what we're going to do about the sword."

"I already have a plan," Aeden said, waving it off and sitting in a chair beside him. "Don't worry about it another second… Are you sure that you're okay?"

"I'm fine," Andros replied, putting his hand down and sitting up straighter.

"Then, you can tell me what the doctor said when he saw how fast you healed."

"The nurse came in to change my bandages and there wasn't much of anything to bandage anymore," Andros began, a bit amused by the story himself. "She looked down at it, looked at me, then back at the wound. She looked at my chart and scanned my ID band and told me that she would be back in a minute. She comes back in about two minutes with a doctor, shows him the chart and the wound, and points to something on the chart. Then, the doctor looks at me and writes something down. Finally, I ask him if everything is okay and he tells me that I'm fine and that I had healed 'abnormally well'."

"Abnormally, huh?" Aeden asked with a smile.

"Yeah," Andros replied. "He said that he had never seen such a quick recovery before in the fifteen years that he'd been practicing medicine. He told me that it was unique enough for him to write a book about me."

"I guess that I don't have to ask what you said to that?" he asked.

"There isn't anything that this place needs to know about me," he said with a shrug. "Even if he really had enough information to fill a book, all I want to do right now is get out of here."

Aeden nodded. "So, where's Ashley?"

"Don't you mean 'where's my wife'?" Andros asked.

"I only told the doctors that because –"

"I know why you said it," Andros interrupted, holding up a hand. "And thank you."

"I'd never try to keep you from your destiny," Aeden said. "Especially with you being the reason that _I_ still have one… So, where is she?"

"Ashley's in the cafeteria," he said. "She was going to starve herself, sitting here with me all day and night without more than a two-minute break."

"And why aren't you with her again?"

"I don't know," he answered. "Giving her space… and testing the waters, I guess."

"Testing the waters?" Aeden repeated. "Don't you think that it's a little early in your relationship to 'test the waters'?"

"I'll rephrase… my body's reacting to her not being here and so is hers," Andros explained, drawing his hand back up to his chest again. "And I can feel it. It's like a… a hole inside of me that hurts. I didn't think that we'd feel like this so soon. I'm not even sure that it's a good thing."

"You're just true Oaeta, I suppose," Aeden sighed. "I remember what that felt like and I remember it happening pretty early. Two days after I met Rae, I felt alone when I wasn't with her, even when I was around other people. It was like that hole that you described, the one that isn't filled again until she's by your side again. I kind of feel that way now… But back then, the feeling just got worse and worse until I finally married Rae."

"And again, you bring up marriage with Ashley and me," Andros said, shaking his head.

"I didn't bring up anything," Aeden pointed out with a grin. "But it's definitely something to think about. You're Oaeta, meaning that you'll probably be in each others' lives forever. Marriage had to have crossed your mind when you realized it."

"Look, I _just_ told her that I liked her this morning when I woke up to find myself in a hospital bed after dying twice," Andros replied. "And I do like her… a lot. I like her so much that it already feels like love. But marriage really hasn't crossed my mind one way or another."

"Why not?"

"I just told you why not."

"I asked Rae to marry me the day I met her."

"You were five years old," Andros exclaimed.

"I was in love just like you are, except I was willing to admit it," Aeden said.

"In love?" Andros repeated, thinking hard about the meaning of the word as he said it. "You think we really are in love already?"

"I think that you two remind me of myself and Rae when we were starting out."

"We remind you of five year olds?"

"Very funny," Aeden said, shaking a finger at his brother. "But you can't fool me. Don't forget that I knew you better than anyone else before she came along."

"Can't forget that," Andros said as the door slowly opened and Ashley walked into the room with a relieved smile on her face.

"Did you miss me?" she asked him after greeting Aeden with a small wave and Andros with a quick peck.

"After thirty-six minutes?" Andros scoffed playfully before finally nodding. "Yeah, I actually missed you so much that it hurt."

"Me too," she said, sitting on the edge of his bed. "But I guess that's normal for us, right?"

"It is now," Andros replied, at last returning her smile. "Did you find anything to eat?"

"Best thing I found was a salad," Ashley shrugged. "But I couldn't really enjoy it. I kept feeling this pain in my chest. A nurse actually took me aside to make sure that I was all right. So, did the doctor say that you could leave yet?"

"He's working on it as we speak."

"Good," she said with a sigh, looking away from him as she avoided sending her current thoughts to him telepathically. "Well, I talked to my parents a few minutes ago… and they send you plenty of get well wishes."

"That was nice of them," Andros said cautiously. "What made you call?"

"I hadn't spoken with them in a day or so," Ashley answered. "They were worried."

"What made you mention me?"

"I tell my parents about all the important people in my life," Ashley said. "They even know about Aeden and Lyell and Talli."

"And the other reason you told them about me?" Andros asked knowingly.

"What other reason?" Ashley shrugged, still not able to look him in the eye. "I may have mentioned the hospital bill that's sure to come up soon and they may have said something about taking care of it."

"They don't have to do that," Andros said, shaking his head. "I'll just… figure something out."

"You mean you'll get a job somewhere without having all the essentials –a social security number, a birth date, or a last name?" Ashley asked, glad to pull a smile and blush from him. "And when exactly would you find the time to work this job? Relax, Andros. My parents said that they're fine with it as long as they get to meet you someday."

"Someday?"

"I told them that now might not be the best time," Ashley said, watching his shoulders fall as the tension left them. "But knowing them, they'll call just to hear your voice. So, I'd prepare for that."

"Thank you," he said softly, the slight embarrassment of having to accept anything from her parents causing his face to redden more as he began to feel a little helpless again.

"We're all family here, Andros," Ashley said, reaching for his hand and clearing his mind with her touch. "Don't ever forget that."

Just then, there was a small knock on the door and Zhane poked his head inside. "You in the mood for some visitors?" he asked, his relieved expression apparent as soon as he saw Andros sitting up in bed.

"Always," Andros replied, smiling to greet the other rangers as they filed into the room with balloons and the same relief on their faces as Zhane had.

"No fair," Carlos said, looking around the room. "They made me share a room when I was in for surgery."

"Surgery?" Cassie laughed. "You got seven stitches and they only kept you overnight because _you_ insisted."

"Hey, seven stitches are scary to a nine year old," he argued, though he laughed with her and the others.

"Glad to see that you've recovered," T.J. said, releasing the balloons in his hand to the ceiling. "We tried our best to get Astronema away from Earth, but…"

"It's fine," Andros said as he looked around at his friends. "You guys… I mean, you did everything right. And I don't know if I ever thanked you –"

"You did," Cassie interrupted. "And you didn't have to. You still don't. We're family, remember?"

"I know," he replied softly, glancing up at Ashley and smiling.

"Yeah, we'll just rub this moment in your face for the rest of your life like with real family," Carlos said, receiving a playful smack on the arm from Cassie. "Just kidding."

"Well, I _will_ owe you," Andros said. "I owe all of you."

"Even the deserters?" Zhane asked, draping an arm around Lyell and Aeden, who had just finished whispering something to each other.

"You got the sword back," Andros replied, deciding to ignore their poor attempt to hide their whispering, knowing that this level of suspiciousness was more or less normal for them. "I can't be angry with you for risking your lives to get it back."

"We did it for you," Zhane said. "For you and Talli and anyone else tied up in this prophecy that's relying on this sword being used for evil."

"You didn't have to do it at all," Andros said, shaking his head. "Especially not for me… But I'm glad that you did. So, thank you."

"We all did something else for you too," Lyell said somewhat guiltily. "Just don't be upset with us."

"What did you do?" Andros asked warily. "You did something with the sword?"

"No," Lyell said, wringing her hands. "The Demon Sword of Kurakk is in the ship's cargo bay, surrounded by some kind of energy force field. We couldn't go near it if we wanted to. But we _did_ go to the Enerba Galaxy to get you something."

"Not another dorig, I hope," Andros sighed.

"Not exactly," Zhane said.

"Yes or no?" Andros asked, folding his arms.

"Both," Zhane answered. "Can we just give you your gift before you're too mad to look at it?"

"Fine," Andros replied. "What is it?"

"Who," Lyell corrected. "You mean, '_who_ is it'?"

Andros unfolded his arms, slowly taking Ashley's hand again. She felt his pulse quicken as he took in a breath and turned to him when she did not feel him breathe out. His shaking hand was squeezing hers tightly as he steadily fixed his eyes on the door as Aeden opened it. But Andros already knew who was on the other side of the door and Ashley felt his nervousness. And she was nervous too, especially if the person at the door was who she thought it was.

The door finally opened fully and a dark-haired young woman in a light pink dress walked into the room, carrying a sleeping little girl with brown hair on one half of her head and blonde on the other.

"Onell," Andros said, releasing Ashley's hand and tearing up a little when the young woman's eyes filled with tears upon hearing her name.

"Hey, big brother," she said, handing the girl off to Aeden before running over to Andros and collapsing into his arms. "I missed you so much."

"I missed you too, Nell," he replied, hugging her as tightly as she hugged him.

"Two years," she said, standing back from him and wiping away her tears with a smile.

"Two years," Andros repeated with a nod. "And they got you to wear a dress… What else did I miss?"

"A lot," Onell answered, shaking her head. "You name it and I've seen it, done it, or heard about it."

"Well, with all that you've been through I'm not an uncle yet, I hope," he joked.

"Not a chance," Onell said with a laugh. "Taking care of Talli is more than enough responsibility for me, thanks. Besides, I have plenty of time before I have to worry about being a mother or even a wife. I'm only fourteen and I'm not as strong as you were then."

"You're right," Andros said, taking her hand. "You're much stronger than I was. You've been taking care of Talli for all this time, and probably all by yourself."

"Then, they told you about mom?" she asked, glancing around at the others when the worry returned to Andros' face. "They _didn't_ tell you about mom…"

"Did she… did she die?" he asked softly.

"No, she didn't die," Onell explained slowly, trying to choose her words carefully. "She's still alive, sort of… but she's… she's gone."

"Gone?" Andros repeated. "What do you mean 'gone'?"

"She disappeared," Onell replied. "One day, we woke up and she was just gone. We didn't know what happened to her. We figured that she just left."

"Are you sure?" Andros asked. "Maybe something happened to her. Dark Specter could have –"

"That's not what happened," Onell said.

"Dark Specter?" Zhane said. "Why would Dark Specter want Meda?"

"Because she –" Andros began, stopping himself before the truth could leave him. "Even if that's not what happened to her, why would she just leave on her own and without her family? She never said anything at all?"

"Mom left, Andros," Onell said firmly. "It's already been a few months now."

"If she was taken by Dark Specter or anyone else, _we_ would probably know by now, right?" Carlos asked. "I mean, Astronema would have bragged about it."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Andros sighed, looking down at his hands and sitting in silence a moment.

"So?" Onell asked after a while.

"So what?"

"Astronema's really Karone, right?" she asked sadly.

"She is," Andros nodded. "Have you seen her yet?"

"No, not yet," Onell answered, shaking her head with a sigh. "And I'm not sure that I want to. She's evil and I'm much too impressionable right now. I just might have to join her. After all, I might be part of a prophecy too and meant to destroy the universe as we know it."

"You aren't part of the prophecy," Andros said, making sure that Onell was looking at him. "It has nothing to do with you… And it won't ever have anything to do with you if I can help it."

"You _can't_ help it if you die again," she said gently. "You won't be able to help anything or anyone."

"I hope that you guys didn't talk like this the whole way here with Talli around," Andros said, receiving a smile from Onell as he took her hand. "What?"

"You know, that's the first time since she's been in here that you've mentioned her," she said, putting a hand on her hip and squeezing his hand. "You nervous or something?"

Andros looked over at Talli, still nestled in Aeden's arms and completely oblivious to everything and everyone. "Very," he answered. "Does she even know who I am anymore?"

"Of course she does," Onell answered. "She talks about you all the time. You should wake her up and talk to her."

"What if –"

"What if she wakes up and bites your nose off?" Onell asked, smiling at the strange looks that she received from most of the room. "'What if' covers an awful lot, Andros. So what if you just talk to her and figure out all those what ifs once and for all?"

"You're much smarter than I remember," Andros said as Aeden walked over to him with Talli.

"She gets it from me," Zhane said with a smile.

"I figured she'd pick up something from you, but I'd have never guessed philosophy," Andros said.

"Very funny," Zhane said, though he could not help laughing himself.

"Did you want us to give you some privacy?" Ashley asked when Andros began tensing up again.

"Please don't," he said, his voice shaking a bit as he held out his hands for his daughter. "I might need you here."

Aeden carefully set Talli down on Andros' lap and walked back over to Zhane, who motioned at the door with his head. "Well, I'll be back in a little while," Aeden said, walking out the door with a sly smile.

"Rae's here too, isn't she?" Andros asked when Aeden left.

"Yes," Zhane said. "Now, stop stalling and wake the princess already."

"Fine," Andros sighed, looking down at Talli and smoothing her hair back until her eyes fluttered a bit before opening fully.

"Hi," Talli said sleepily, rubbing her eyes and sitting up with a smile.

"Hi," Andros managed to get over the lump in his throat.

He watched as Talli studied his expression a moment, not sure of what to make of the tears in his eyes. "Do you know who I am?" she asked, confused further when Andros' tears spilled over.

"I know who you are," Andros replied softly.

"Then, why are you crying?" she asked, gently wiping away his tears with her hands.

"I don't know," Andros answered truthfully. "I think it's because I'm so happy to see you. And I'm glad that you're okay."

"I'm glad that you're okay too," Talli said, running her fingers across the spot on his abdomen that sunk in slightly in spite of bandages. "Does it hurt?"

"A little bit," Andros answered.

"Would it hurt if I gave you a hug?"

Andros smiled. "Let's find out," he said, waiting until she carefully wrapped her arms around his neck before enveloping her in a tight hug. It did hurt him quite a bit, but he knew the pain that not holding her might bring, knowing that there was no comparison.

"I missed you," she said, resting her head on his shoulder.

"I missed you too," he replied softly, kissing the top of her head and pulling back from her to look at her. "So how old are you now –seventeen? Eighteen?"

Talli giggled. "No, daddy," she said. "I'm just five."

"You sure?"

Talli nodded. "I won't be six for… " she trailed off.

"Sixty-eight…" Onell began.

"Sixty-eight days," Talli finished.

"Six," Andros sighed wistfully. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," Talli said with a nod. "Will I see you when I turn six?"

"I certainly hope so," Andros said, not sure that he should have been so honest.

"And when you come, you won't leave me again, right?" Talli asked sweetly, taking his hand in both of hers.

"Talli," Onell admonished softly in a tone strict enough to make Talli pull back from Andros and turn to her.

"I forgot," Talli said sadly, looking back into Andros' eyes.

"Forgot what?" Andros asked, glancing over at Onell.

"I told her not to ask you that," Onell explained.

"I'm not so sensitive that she can't talk to me about anything," Andros said, looking back to Talli. "It's a fair question and one that I'm not sure I have the answer to… I left you for two whole years and I'm sorry. I didn't plan it and I don't know that it won't happen again. As long as I'm the Red Ranger, I can't promise you anything except that I'll do whatever I can to make sure that you're safe. And I can't protect you if I'm not the Red Ranger. You understand that, don't you?"

"Yes," Talli answered in a small voice.

"Still love me?" he asked.

Talli smiled. "Yes."

"I love you too," he said. "But I'm not going anywhere right now, unless it's out of this hospital room. So, we have all day to be together if you want."

"Really?"

"Yes, really," Andros replied with a nod. "So, anything you want to do or talk about –it's _your_ day."

Talli thought for a while, glancing back over at Onell before looking back up at Andros with a troubled look on her face. "I saw mommy yesterday," she said quietly.

"You did?" Andros inquired as half-heartedly as Talli seemed to be. "How is she?"

"I don't know," Talli shrugged. "She told me that something happened to you and you hurt people."

"She told you that I hurt people?"

"Your friends," Talli replied with a nod. "But I didn't believe her."

Andros lowered his eyes a moment before looking back up at Talli. "Did she say anything else?" he asked.

"She told me where Mommy Meda went," Talli said happily. "She said that you should know too, but I didn't know when I would be able to tell you."

"Where?"

Zhane reached into his pocket and tossed a small yellow box into Andros' hands. "Sadi gave this to Talli yesterday morning and said that your mother was _in_ it."

"This is a dorig," Andros said after staring at it for a few seconds.

"Yes, it is," Zhane replied. "The Karovan dorig to be more precise."

"She's really in there," Talli said. "I talked to her on the Megaship. She told me to let her talk to you."

"You opened it?" Andros asked nervously.

"Yes," Talli said, gently taking the box from his hands. "I opened it and she started talking to me."

"It shouldn't have been dangerous though," Lyell explained. "The dorig doesn't work unless it's on its native planet."

"Then, how is it that Talli was able to hear a voice from it?" Andros asked.

"Maybe it's a trick," Cassie said, glancing from Talli to the dorig. "Astronema did say that her new plan would involve –"

"I don't think so," Andros said, watching cautiously as Talli took the lid off the dorig and held it up to her face.

"Mommy Meda?" Talli called softly into the box. "Are you in there? Daddy's here now."

Suddenly, the inside of the box took on a soft glow that grew brighter until, at last, a small sphere of light rose from inside of it.

"Mom?" Andros asked as the ball of light settled into his open hands.

"I haven't much time," the female voice began quickly. "There is a limit to how long I am able to be called to any universe other than my own and I only have one chance to do this. So, you must listen well and you must not ask any questions. I will explain as much as I can."

"Okay," Andros replied as the others gathered around to listen to the soft voice in Andros' hands.

"It is true, Andros," she said. "It's really me. Over a century ago, I lived on Abruxia as a child until the being known as Dark Specter arrived to wreak havoc on my planet. As part of some twisted plan involving the prophecy, he took me from my home and raised me to be evil, much as was done to our Karone. When he later ordered that I destroy my home planet, I did and he granted me immortality so that we might conquer the universe together. It was only a few decades ago that I came up against a group of rangers that reminded me of my human side and trusted that I might become good again. And I did become good again, falling in love with a human and soon losing Dark Specter's faith in me. He stripped me of my immortality and I lived the rest of my life in the young body that hid my true age. But I was condemned then to become an oracle as punishment for all the destruction that I once caused this universe. And when my true age began to catch up with me, I was banished immediately from this universe."

"It was you," Andros said, shaking his head. "The Abruxian migration –that was you. _You_ destroyed it… What name did Dark Specter give you?"

"Andros, I asked that you not ask –"

"He called you Andromeda, didn't he?" Andros asked somewhat angrily. "You're not even here and I can read you just as clearly as if you were standing right in front of me. Tell me what he's planning to do with Karone."

"He has no plans for Karone," Meda replied. "Only plans for Astronema and you. The prophecy has now begun, Andros. I am no longer around to help you, so you must listen to me carefully… Iides explained the Demon Sword of Kurakk to you, but she did not mention the importance of not allowing Astronema to get it. Once she has it, you will no longer be able to stop her plans or the prophecy."

"Tell me her plan," Andros requested again.

"I cannot say," Meda said. "The information that I'm giving you now is only available to you because the oracles need you to win. You cannot allow the dorigs to be used in the final battles."

"Final battles?" Zhane asked. "How final is 'final'?"

"It will be the final battle for most of you," Meda revealed sadly. "And there is no ending to the prophecy that will not result in tears and great pain for you all."

"I can't stop the prophecy if I don't know the plan," Andros explained. "If the oracles want me to win, why won't they tell me anything about the plan?"

"I am not here to make sure that the prophecy is stopped," she said. "It is only my hope that the prophecy can be changed for the better. Astronema _will_ get the sword and she will carry out her plan. Everything seems to be written in stone except the final battle. There is only the _promise_ that there will be a battle, but the victor is never named."

"The prophecy says 'the destruction of many worlds'," Ashley said, finally finding the courage to speak. "It sort of sounds like we'll lose."

"Destruction of _worlds_, not universes," Meda pointed out. "My time in your universe wanes, so listen to me closely, rangers. And do not forget… In the final battle, you will fight on the planet Orei to save Zordon and you will fight without weapons…"

"Then, Dark Specter _will_ win," T.J. concluded. "Anything called a final battle won't be easy to win. We'll need our weapons to even things out."

"Dark Specter is not who you must worry about in the final battle," Meda said.

"But what if –" Andros began, cutting himself off when the light dimmed and traveled from his hands back into the yellow dorig.

"I told you she was in there," Talli said, putting the lid back on the box.

"Why would Sadi want you to have that?" Carlos asked, pointing at the dorig. "If it wasn't a trick, then that would be what –her helping us?"

"I doubt that," Onell said, folding her arms. "If that is really our mom and everything really is written in stone, then her talking to us probably was too."

"Maybe Sadi's trying to manipulate you through the prophecy," Ashley suggested. "Or it could be another distraction like when Astronema told us who she was. The more we're told about this prophecy, the more we stress out about it and eventually mess up in a fight."

"Or mess up in the final battle," Andros added with a sigh, relaxing a little when Talli sat on his lap and wrapped his arms around her waist before leaning her head back against his chest. And in moments, he was relaxed –still thinking, but relaxed enough to do so as he rested his cheek on the top of her head.

They all seemed to relax some just then, smiling at the peace that such a small act could bring and forgetting for just a moment about the final battle and the prophecy just over the horizon. And in spite of everything they had just heard, now watching the gentle moment between a father and daughter, they realized all at once that _she_, not a demon sword or a dorig, was the one that they were supposed to be protecting. This little girl was the one that they would ultimately be fighting for.

And no matter what Andros said, they knew now just as well as he did that the prophecy was about Talli too.


	39. Chapter 39

Ch 39

Andros let out a sigh as he walked away from the Megalift and down the corridor to Ashley's room. It had been a relief to see the Megaship again, knowing that he had come very close to never seeing it or anyone else again. And he was genuinely happy to be back on the ship, more sure than he had ever been that he was meant to be the Red Ranger.

He and the others had spent the past two hours discussing the prophecy and the information that Meda had given them, trying to make sense of it all and waiting for Astronema to make a move. Two days had passed since her demand for the Demon Sword of Kurakk with the threat of using Talli in her plans and he had only been given three days. Andros wondered what she might do now that Talli and Onell were with him and the other rangers. He supposed that she might seek out the Rebels and threaten to destroy them unless she received the sword, but the ship had been well cloaked in the Enerba Galaxy and the rangers had not noticed anyone following the ship. The rangers finally decided that as long as she remained quiet, they would not question it.

Andros continued to walk down the corridor, stopping by his own bedroom for a moment and listening briefly to the giggles inside. Aeden and Rae had been in there for the past six hours, mostly talking, he hoped. It had been, after all, two whole years since they had seen one another and Andros could not blame them if they decided to catch up… though he wished that they could catch up in another room. It was not his fault that Aeden no longer had a room after he let Lyell have it.

He shook his head as he heard a louder giggle and went to Ashley's door, suddenly remembering why he had come in the first place as he knocked lightly on it.

"Come in," Ashley said from behind her door, smiling and scooting to the edge of her bed when she saw Andros standing there. "Hey, you. Shouldn't you be spending some time with Talli?"

"I was," he replied. "She, Onell, and I were on the Simudeck for a while and then we headed back to the bridge and you had disappeared. So, I wondered if something might've been wrong."

"No, I'm okay," she assured him, waving him into her room and letting the door close behind him. "I didn't want to talk about the prophecy anymore and I thought that I should give you and Talli some time to yourselves. I mean, you hadn't seen her in two whole years and I'm sure that she and Onell have tons to tell you. You have a lot to catch up on and I didn't want to stand in the way of that."

"Yeah, but they want to know about me too," Andros said, sitting on the edge of her desk. "And you're very suddenly a part of my life now. They should get to know you a little, even if it's just for a day."

Ashley smiled again. "Well, where are they now?" she asked.

"Onell hadn't slept all night, worrying about me and all, so I think that she's been sleeping in Lyell's room for about fifteen minutes," he answered. "Talli's on the bridge with the others… she's um, she's thinking."

"Thinking?" Ashley repeated.

"I didn't know if you'd have a problem with it," Andros began a little nervously. "But I told Talli a little bit about you and me. I told her that we were an 'us' now and how much I liked you."

"And what did she say?" Ashley asked, holding in her breath as she awaited Andros' answer.

"She said that she needed to think about it," Andros said, thinking about the words as he said them aloud. "But I'm not positive that it's a bad thing."

"Well, what will you do?" Ashley asked in a small voice, seeming to sink into her bed as she spoke.

"About what?"

"What'll you do if Talli tells you that she doesn't approve of you and me?" she asked.

Andros stared silently at Ashley for a moment, repeating the question to himself before giving her a knowing look. "Ashley, she's five," he finally said.

"So?" Ashley said, though she had hoped he might say that.

"So… she's five and she doesn't know you very well," Andros said with a shrug. "But she has no reason to dislike you. And if she doesn't like the idea of you and me together, then it'll just be something that she'll get used to after a while. But she's a child, Ashley. And as much as I love her and consider her feelings with just about everything I've ever done, my feelings for you won't change because of her opinion of you based on a single day."

Ashley let out a sigh of relief and smiled. "You're very sweet for saying that," she said. "But we both know that it isn't true. You'd never choose your happiness over Talli's."

"Talli is happy as long as I'm happy," he said. "Just like you, she can feel when I'm not okay. When she said that she had to think about things, I wasn't worried about her not liking you. I already know that as long as I like you, she'll like you."

"And how much do you like me?"

Andros pretended to think for a minute. "I like you very, very, very, _very_ much," he said, reaching for her hand.

"So much that you might kiss me again?" Ashley asked, giggling as he slowly leaned over and brought his lips to hers.

Ashley tugged a little on his hand to bring him closer to her as they kissed, waiting until he was sitting on her bed before draping her arms around his neck. She could feel his uneasiness at sitting on her bed as he hesitated briefly, but he seemed to get past it as he felt the tip of her tongue lightly brush his lips. After a moment, he parted his lips to allow it in, his hands finding their way to her waist and eventually traveling down to her hips. All the while, she was carefully pulling Andros forward, leaning back onto her bed with a soft moan.

But that was just enough to open Andros' eyes, releasing her and pulling back from her with enough force to push himself off of her bed and onto the floor with a thud.

"Are you okay?" she asked him as he sat up and rubbed the small of his back briefly.

"Yeah," he replied, though he remained sitting on her floor.

"What happened?" she asked, scooting to the edge of her bed. "Was something wrong?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing," Andros said with a sigh. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know what you mean," she said. "I thought you liked it when I kissed you."

"I do," he said softly, blushing a little. "But I was… on your bed, Ashley."

"Because I wanted you there," she sighed, the disappointment on her face apparent. "You _didn't_ want to be on my bed?"

"It isn't that," Andros began. "But we've been together officially for less than a week, a couple of days really… You're really ready for _that_?"

"We were just sitting on the bed, Andros… _Sitting_."

Andros shook his head. "You wanted more than that, Ashley… And as much as I would love to share such an intimate and important moment with you, I know that it's not what you really want. You just went from being nervous about my daughter liking you to wanting my clothes off in less than a few minutes. So, tell me what's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong, Andros," Ashley said with a smile. "But with all the talk of a final battle, shouldn't we be, I don't know, enjoying our lives a little more? It's just –"

"That's why," he interrupted as he suddenly understood her behavior. "You think I'm going to die again, except more permanently next time, right?"

"I hope not," Ashley replied, her voice barely above a whisper. "But you heard your mom, Andros. There's a final battle coming and it'll be the last for many of us, according to her. Why can't we take advantage of our time together before things get more complicated?"

"Because, unless I'm reading you wrong, I'd be your first, wouldn't I?"

"So, what?" Ashley frowned, averting her eyes.

"We haven't even been on a real date yet, Ashley," he reasoned, meeting her eyes again. "I know you aren't ready for this and, just as importantly, I'm not ready for it either. So, if it doesn't disappoint you too much, I'd rather have a date with you instead."

Ashley's face lit up. "A date?" she asked.

"Whenever you want," Andros said with a nod. "We can use the Simudeck or go to the nearest planet when Talli's asleep tonight."

"That sounds nice," she said, standing up and holding out her hand to help him up from the floor. "And if you want, we can take Talli with us. Like you said, I should get to know her a bit, right?"

"Right," Andros replied, smiling and pulling her closer to him to kiss her again.

There was a light knock on the door suddenly and their kiss ended abruptly as the door whooshed open and Talli slowly walked into Ashley's room, glancing around briefly at the reasonably decorated walls of Angel Grove High pendants and posters.

"You're done thinking already?" Andros asked her, releasing Ashley's hand after a moment when Talli seemed to stare at their joined hands.

"Daddy, can I talk to Ashley?" Talli softly asked him instead, her hazel eyes now on Ashley with little expression in them.

"Sure," Andros answered hesitantly, glancing back at Ashley who nodded as he edged toward the door. "I'll be outside if you need me."

Once the door closed, Talli stood silently staring down at her feet, her hands behind her back. She did not look back up at Ashley for quite some time and finally Ashley sat down on her bed, wondering if she should say anything until Talli did.

"Talli?" Ashley asked quietly, succeeding in getting the little girl to look up at her. "Wasn't there something you wanted to talk to me about?"

Talli nodded. "Do you love my daddy?" she asked.

"We haven't actually said it to each other yet, but yeah, I think I do love him," Ashley said with a smile.

"Daddy said that he loved you too," Talli said, lowering her eyes again. "But he told Skye that he loved her a long time ago too."

"I know," Ashley said, wondering if it was her place to explain that situation to Talli and wondering why Andros had not explained it yet.

"He already did," Talli said, glancing down at her feet again. "That's how I know that my daddy loves you –I can read _your_ mind too, just like him. I could _never_ read Skye's mind."

"But I bet you and Skye were pretty close though," Ashley guessed.

Talli shook her head. "Skye already had a little girl," she said with a shrug. "But it didn't matter if she loved me. I just didn't want my daddy to keep saying it to her. I don't like when he lies because I can feel when he's lying and it makes both of us feel bad."

"I'm sure that doesn't happen very often," Ashley said. "Andros might keep secrets, but he doesn't really lie."

"Mommy said that it was the same thing," Talli replied. "But I know that he isn't lying now. You're Oaeta too, so I know he loves you. I just wanted to know if he said it yet."

"Why?" Ashley asked.

"Bad things happen when my daddy says 'I love you'," she explained. "But only when he says it different than normal."

"Different how?"

"Like when he says it before he leaves somewhere," Talli said. "He always says it like he's not coming back. Onell said that he says it like that when he's scared."

"Did something bad happen after he said it the last time?" Ashley asked, wondering how much Andros had told Talli about what had happened to him since he last saw her.

"He told me that Dark Specter captured him," Talli replied somewhat tearily. "And before that, the other Astrorangers died. I wanted to know if he said 'I love you' because I heard a doctor at the hospital say that he died."

"Talli, those things didn't happen because he said 'I love you'," Ashley explained gently, though she vaguely recalled Andros very nearly saying it just before they went to fight Darkonda. "Your dad knew that bad things that those might happen and he wanted you to know how much he loved you. But he didn't make them happen by saying 'I love you'."

"Are you sure?" Talli asked sadly enough for Ashley to reach out her hand and gently pull the child into her arms.

"I'm sure," Ashley said, pulling Talli onto her lap. "Andros hadn't mentioned to you how badly he was hurt, did he?"

Talli shook her head as a tear rolled down her cheek. "He didn't say that he died," she said, resting her head on Ashley's chest as more tears fell.

"I guess he didn't want to worry you," Ashley said, hugging Talli closer to her. "Why didn't you tell him that you knew?"

Talli shrugged.

"I think you should talk to him," Ashley continued. "He told you earlier that you could talk to him about anything."

"Will you come too?" Talli asked softly, glancing up at her. "Daddy will tell me everything if _you're_ with me. He won't lie to his Oaeta."

"He won't lie to _you_ either," Ashley said.

There was a light knock on the door just then and Talli lifted her head from Ashley's chest, knowing just as well as she did who was on the other side.

"Come on in, Andros," Ashley called, waving him into her room for the second time that day when the door opened.

Andros walked into the room with his eyes lowered, running his fingers through his hair before looking down at Talli with a sigh.

"I'm sorry," he said sincerely, smoothing back her hair a little. "I didn't mean to keep things from you, Talli. I just… If you really want me to tell you the truth about everything, then I will. But I wasn't sure how you would take it."

Talli readjusted herself on Ashley's lap and turned all the way to Andros. "You can tell me," she said, wiping her tears away on her arm. "I'm not a baby now. I'm a big girl."

"You are," Andros agreed with a nod, sighing again. "I've been trying to keep you out of this prophecy and away from ranger business since you were born. But it seems impossible now that you're old enough to ask questions."

"I don't want to know all of it," Talli said. "But if you died, then I want to know."

"I did," Andros said, taking one of her hands in his. "I mean, I did, but I didn't… I'm fine now."

"When I saw mommy, she told me that everybody dies," Talli said, thinking about the words as she said them. "But most people are old when they die, right?"

"Most," Andros affirmed.

"Then, will you promise not to die again until you get really really old?" she asked.

"I promise that I'll try," Andros said, not sure that he should have. After all, he and Ashley had just mentioned it themselves and nothing seemed certain right now, no matter how many times he avoided talking about things. "Was there anything else that you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Yes," Talli replied, sliding down from Ashley's lap. "Can we do something fun now?"

Andros smiled. "Sure," he said, still holding onto her hand.

"Do you want to come with us?" Talli asked, turning to Ashley with her hand extended.

"I'd like that," Ashley replied, taking Talli's hand. "If you two haven't already eaten, we can stop at the Synthetron and eat something. Do they have ice cream on KO-35?"

Talli shook her head as Andros shrugged.

"You two definitely have to try that today," Ashley said as Talli led her and Andros out of the room. "You'll love it."

-0-0-0-0-

"Are you almost ready?" Astronema asked, staring at Darkonda through the viewing screen of the Dark Fortress.

Darkonda nodded. "I'm only awaiting your orders, Princess Astronema," he said. "But are you certain that we won't need more than fifty?"

"Fifty is enough of a threat," Astronema replied, glancing back at Ecliptor. "Do you know where the rangers are headed?"

"KO-35," Ecliptor answered. "It's just as you thought. The Red Ranger is with them now, along with three other humans."

Astronema smiled to herself, turning back to the viewing screen. The Red Ranger was alive, after all. And she was actually relieved. Maybe it was the fact that there was no plan without him… or maybe it was that she had started feeling a little connected to him as of late. It seemed to make sense though. It at least explained why she had been nice enough to leave him alone as he recuperated in the hospital. Well, as long as she did not think of it as being nice, it made sense.

"I'll contact you as soon as I'm ready," she said to Darkonda. "Don't make a move until then."

"Of course," Darkonda said, bowing a little as the screen faded to black.

"Ecliptor, get me the Astro Megaship," she said as soon as Darkonda disappeared from the screen.

"At once, my princess," Ecliptor said, pressing a sequence of buttons that brought the Silver Ranger's surprised face onto the viewing screen.

"You again?" Zhane asked with a sigh. "What do you want now?"

"I want to speak with my brother," she said.

Zhane glanced over at one of DECA's cameras on the bridge. "DECA, get Andros here as soon as you can," he said, looking back to Astronema. She really did look a lot like Andros' mother –very beautiful with mysterious brown eyes.

"You know, Andros and Aeden being your brothers and all, you could go easier on us," Zhane said, filling the silence between them as they awaited Andros' arrival.

Astronema glared at him. "You're my enemies," she replied. "And you happen to be in the way of me and absolute power. If my brothers insist on being a part of that, then they're as expendable as the rest of you. This could all end if you'd just stay out of my way."

"Sorry, but letting you take over the universe is kind of against everything that we stand for," Zhane said with a shrug. "This could all end if you stop trying to do that."

"And that would be against everything that I stand for," Astronema replied. "Besides, I only follow orders. If Dark Specter wants the universe, then I'll do whatever I can to make that happen. And if it means destroying you all, then I will."

"I can vouch for that," Andros said, stepping in front of the viewing screen as he entered the bridge. "So, we should be grateful then that you've spared us this long, right?"

"You know why I've contacted you?" she asked.

"The Demon Sword of Kurakk," Andros answered with a nod. "And thanks, sis. I'm doing just fine after your monster stabbed me with the sword you're demanding."

"For the record, I didn't order Darkonda to do that," she said, knowing immediately by the look on his face that he believed her.

Andros folded his arms. "I guess you can't make a deal with me unless I'm alive," he retorted.

"Let's be clear… this isn't a _deal_," Astronema replied. "I'm giving you an _order_."

"And what reason do I have to follow orders from you?" he asked, leaving Astronema looking a little stunned.

She narrowed her eyes at him and his unconcerned expression. "Do you know how quickly I can have your daughter here?"

"We'll never know," Andros shot back. "She's here with me… and if you ever use her to get to me again, I'll –"

"I wouldn't finish that sentence, Red Ranger," she interrupted angrily. "Not if you want to stay on my good side. If you want to do things the hard way, that's just fine too."

"You don't have anything else to threaten me with," Andros replied. "I've already died once, so I'm not afraid of you or anything else that you might do."

"Don't be so sure," Astronema said, cutting off communications between them.

She turned to Ecliptor and smiled again. Her brother was just too predictable. Of course he would go out of his way to get his daughter after Astronema had gone out of her way to mention her by name. And if Sadi had followed her orders, then the rangers would be headed to KO-35 to return the Karovan dorig. Now everyone was right where she needed them to be.

"Contact Darkonda again," she said, taking her staff from him and walking away from the bridge. "Tell him that it's time to make a move."


	40. Chapter 40

Ch 40

"Are you two nuts?" Zhane asked Andros for the third time in five minutes.

"I don't know," Andros said distractedly, kneeling on the floor and leafing through Zhane's drawer for something else to wear. He was not sure exactly what he was looking for yet, but he figured that he would know it when he saw it. And he could not very well go to his room to look for anything as long as Aeden and Rae were still in his room. "_Are_ we nuts?"

Zhane sighed and sat on the edge of his bed. "You're really having a date?" he asked. "A real date? Right now?"

"Why not?" he asked, picking up a white shirt and putting it back.

"Well, we're headed to KO-35 and Astronema is probably after us right now after what you said to her today," Zhane pointed out. "And _why_ would you taunt her like that?"

"It's not like I lied," Andros replied with a shrug. "She doesn't have anything on us. We have the dorig, the sword, and my family. Empty threats don't scare me."

"Maybe they should just a little," he said, folding his arms and shutting the drawer under his bed with his feet. "I mean, you can say all of that now, but what are you going to say to her after we take Onell and Talli back to where the rest of the Rebels are? And we _do_ have to take them back pretty soon. They're really not any safer here than they will be anywhere else."

"I know," Andros replied softly. "By then, we'll figure out a way to keep an eye on them."

"How are we going to do that?" Zhane asked. "We need to think of something now and we can't make any kind of decision about _your_ family without you. And your mind is elsewhere right now, so…"

Andros sighed heavily. "It's not like I won't be back, Zhane," he said in frustration, pushing Zhane's feet from in front of the drawer and resuming his clothes scavenging mission. "We'll figure everything out when I get back, but I'm going on my date. Besides, the other rangers are sleeping, so I doubt if we'll be planning anything right now. I think you may be overreacting a little."

"You can't have a date outside of the ship," Zhane said firmly. "Not tonight."

Andros sighed and looked up at Zhane from his spot on the floor. "Why are you so afraid of her?"

"Of who?" Zhane asked. "Astronema? I'm not afraid of her."

"Well, you're afraid of something," Andros said, already well in the process of reading his friend's mind. "So, why don't you just say it out loud and get it over with?"

"What?"

"You think that I'm still going to die," Andros concluded.

"No, I don't."

Andros nodded. "Of course, you do," he said with a sigh. "I think everyone does right now, even Ashley and Talli. Maybe I kind of think it too… No, it's not even that I think I'll really die. It's just this feeling that something really bad is going to happen. And my mother didn't exactly paint the prettiest picture for the future. So, I'm a little nervous, but it's at least giving me this extra push to do things that I probably wouldn't be doing otherwise."

Zhane stared curiously at Andros for a moment before finally asking. "Like what?" he asked, his arms still folded as he narrowed his eyes a little.

"Like… like going on a date with Ashley," Andros replied. "Like spending time with Onell and Talli… I want to do _some_ things that have nothing to do with being a ranger or with the prophecy because that's all my family sees whenever I'm around –the Red Ranger or the guy in the prophecy. And even though I've made some peace with that… I mean, if something bad does happen to me, then I want to at least be able to tell Ashley to her face that I love her and maybe get to hear it back. Talli already attaches something negative to those words, but I don't want Ashley to. So… one date, Zhane. It's just one date."

"Andros," Zhane began, choosing his words carefully as he spoke. "It's not that you _shouldn't_ have a date with Ashley. But why leave the ship? The Simudeck is right here, able to transform into any place you want without the added worry that someone might try to kill you on your date."

"It'll be more exciting that way," Andros said, holding up a black shirt to the light before handing it to Zhane and continuing to look through the drawer. "Besides, we need to really be alone."

"Okay, fine," Zhane sighed. "You're really not getting this. So, I'll spell it out for you… I got an accidental mental picture of you and Ashley earlier today and I happened to see just how far things went between you two."

Andros stopped rummaging and looked back up at Zhane. "We didn't do anything," he said, hoping that no one else had accidently previewed his moment with Ashley.

"Yeah, I know," Zhane said. "But she wanted more and I think you do too."

"We haven't –"

"You haven't been dating that long," Zhane finished, rolling his eyes and shaking his head. "Yeah, I know that too. But when two people are in love, nothing can keep them apart, even their own common sense."

Andros stood up slowly, keeping his eyes focused on Zhane as he suddenly realized his friends' intentions. "Is this… a _sex_ talk?" he asked, unsure of how angry he should be.

"Well, yes," Zhane admitted uncomfortably.

"Are you serious?" Andros asked, raising his voice a little. "I'm not a little kid."

"Yeah, you just have one," Zhane retorted, closing his eyes as the words came out before his brain could properly filter them. As Zhane opened his eyes again, he watched Andros' face flush, unable to hide the hurt in his eyes as he lowered them.

"I'm sorry," Zhane sighed. "That didn't come out the way I wanted it to… It's just that you say that something bad is probably going to happen and that you want to use the time you have left to make sure that Ashley knows that you love her. And you have always relied on something tangible when it comes to love. You and your family have lockets, you held onto Ashley's necklace, and with Sadi –"

"A daughter?" Andros guessed bitterly, folding his arms.

"Your virginity," Zhane replied. "And, yes, a daughter. Right now, your relationship with Ashley is something beyond spiritual, so you both feel like you need something more… more…"

"Physical?"

"Don't you?" Zhane asked.

"I told her that I do," he admitted, becoming angrier as he spoke. "But we didn't… And I really can't believe that you'd come at me with this. Even if Ashley and I do decide to move ahead in our relationship, it won't be any of your business."

"It'll be my business if I lose two rangers," Zhane said, his own anger building. "If you think that you might die again, then permanent or not, I lose you as my friend, as a fighter, and as my family. And if you and Ashley happen to do something and end up, well, you know… then Ashley won't be able to stay on the ship and she certainly won't be able to fight."

"Maybe I don't want her to fight," Andros exclaimed. "If I don't make it beyond this final battle then I want to make sure that she at least does. So maybe a baby would actually be a smart move for us."

"That's the point I'm trying to make," Zhane yelled back, calming down when Andros' anger turned into confusion. "Isn't it possible that on some level you really don't want Ashley here anymore? You want her to be somewhere safe, where the prophecy can't reach her. And I don't blame you for wanting that. I haven't seen too many Oaeta as in tune with each other as you and Ashley are. If something happens to you, then who knows what might happen to her? So, don't be stupid and have a baby with her just so you can die again and accidentally take her with you."

Andros stood silently in front of Zhane for a moment, trying to think of something to say in his defense. He had to admit that he was not the greatest at making decisions, especially under pressure. And he could admit that he really did not want another child at the moment. It would definitely be a pretty foolish thing for him and Ashley to do, especially at this stage of their relationship.

"You should know by now, at least taking into account what your mother said, that you can't hide from the prophecy," Zhane continued. "And maybe, just maybe, this final battle that you're worried about is dependent on how many of us are going to be _able_ to fight, which means that we _all_ have to be there and I… I don't want to lose. I don't want to die and I don't want to see you or any of my teammates die either… I'm going to need you both here and able to fight with us whenever this battle comes. So, just take it slow with Ashley and don't do anything that you might regret later."

"What Ashley and I do or don't do will _never_ be your business," Andros finally began, deciding that he was still fairly angry. "But for the record, Ashley and I are adults and we _can_ control ourselves. If we don't fight in the last battle, there'll be plenty of other rangers out there more than willing to take our places."

"You're right," Zhane replied softly, ultimately giving up on the conversation altogether as he realized that he would not win this argument today. "I'm sorry. It wasn't my intention to get involved in your relationship. And you should also know that you and Ashley are more than just fighters to me. You're family and I'm… I'm probably still just overreacting. I'm sorry, okay?"

"Yeah," Andros sighed, looking awkwardly around the room, trying to lock in on anything except Zhane's eyes.

Zhane opened a desk drawer and pulled out a red shirt with a pair of black pants. "Whatever you and Ashley decide to do, I just hope that you'll think long and hard about it first," he said, handing them to Andros. "Adults or not, you're in love and love can affect your way of thinking. It seems to have started with your fashion sense, so I'll help you this time by suggesting that you wear your color."

Andros looked carefully at the shirt before smiling a little. "Isn't this mine anyway?" he asked.

"I may have borrowed it at some point," Zhane answered with a smile.

"'Some point'?" Andros repeated. "Some point must've been at least two years ago."

"Obviously, you didn't exactly miss it," Zhane said. "It wasn't my color then and it's not my color now."

Andros looked down at it with a sigh before looking back up at Zhane. "You really think we should stay on the Megaship?" he asked.

"Nah," Zhane finally decided. "Go ahead and leave the ship. We'll slow down so that you'll stay within teleportation range. We can still get to KO-35 by morning. Just have fun and, you know…"

"Be careful?" Andros suggested, receiving a nod in return. "Like you told me a couple of months ago, you worry too much."

_O_O_O_

"I wasn't expecting that," Ashley said, laughing as she and Andros leaned against one another and tried their best not to stumble as they walked away from what could only be described by Ashley as the most terrifying and exciting thing she had ever experienced.

"Not bad for a roller coaster, huh?" Andros asked her as he slowly regained the full use of his legs.

Ashley glanced back at the two hundred foot wide contraption that blinked its many lights in every direction and played its enchanting music that seemed to invite her back to it.

"Not bad at all," she replied excitedly. "I was a little worried when I saw that it was one of those lay-down coasters, but it was way more fun than I thought."

"And how cool was it when we went down that vertical drop upside down?" Andros asked just as excitedly.

"Yeah, and then the six loops with the 40-foot corkscrew?" Ashley added, suddenly pulling him in the direction of something else that had only just caught her eye. "And then when the track–"

"Caught on fire?" Andros finished with a smile as he allowed himself to be pulled toward what he could only assume was food-related based on Ashley's thoughts. "Even _I _was worried then."

"Me too," Ashley said, slowing down in front of a small stand covered with pictures of what appeared to be food. She hoped that whatever food they served would be edible by her standards.

"You're hungry after riding _that_ thing?" Andros asked incredulously.

"I didn't want to eat before our date," she giggled with a shrug. "You're _not_ hungry?"

"Well, maybe a little," he admitted. "What'd you have in mind?"

Ashley hesitated briefly, looking at the pictures on the front of the stand again. "I'm not sure," she said finally. "Maybe you should pick."

"This is an intergalactic fair, Ashley," Andros said, glancing around them at the variety of species enjoying the fair with them. "A Synthetron's more necessary here than on our ship. So, if you want a burger or something, they'll have it. Anything you want."

Ashley let out a sigh of relief, though she suddenly thought of something. "You know, I've spent all day letting you and Talli try different Earth snacks, but I haven't had any Karovan snacks," she said. "How about you order me _your_ favorite snack and then you can try one of mine?"

"Sounds good," Andros said with a nod, turning to the stand and pushing a button that flipped over a small panel lined with buttons, where he put in a coin and the letters of a set of Karovan words that Ashley found very familiar.

"'Je-isa ayano'?" she repeated aloud. "Doesn't that mean 'happy hello'?"

He nodded. "It was my favorite thing to eat as a kid," Andros said as a window opened and he removed a small paper dish filled with ten orange, round bread balls.

"They look like doughnuts," Ashley said as she took the dish from Andros and picked up one of the Happy Hello snacks. It certainly had the texture of a doughnut, but it smelled much sweeter somehow. She bit into it, smiling when a cold sensation hit her taste buds and ran down her chin.

"Doughnuts with ice cream inside," Andros corrected her as he took advantage of the opportunity to dab at Ashley's chin with a napkin. "Well, not exactly, but it's basically the same thing."

"It's really good," Ashley replied, biting into another one. "I guess it's my turn now… did you want to try something sweet or salty?"

"Surprise me," he said with a shrug.

"Okay," she said with a happy sigh as she swallowed another bite. "Put in 'nachos'."

Andros put in another coin and pressed buttons on the stand, waiting briefly as the window opened again before removing a small dish of tortilla chips covered with melted cheese. He lifted a chip and briefly studied the strings of cheese that connected it to the other chips, finally breaking it free and bringing it to his mouth. He chewed slowly, his brow furrowing after a moment just before he swallowed it and cleared his throat a little.

"What'd you think?" Ashley asked, trying to make out his expression.

"Kind of spicy," Andros said a little hoarsely, though he brought another nacho to his mouth.

"Sorry," Ashley said, offering him a Happy Hello snack. "It comes with jalapeños. They're kind of hot."

"I'm already used to it," he said, shaking his head at the snack in her hands. "They're pretty good."

Andros grabbed a couple of bottles of water by the side of the stand and started walking again, motioning with his head for Ashley to join him as they headed for no particular direction as they continued to eat.

"So, what made you think of taking me to a fair?" Ashley asked, the question having been on her mind for the past couple of hours, glad that she had not chosen to wear the yellow dress that had called her name from her closet earlier. She just hoped that he would not be offended by her question.

Andros shrugged. "I wanted to do something special," he answered. "I figured that I can take you on a romantic dinner any time, but this fair comes for one week every 418 days and we were close by. Besides, I'm not very good at dates anyway and as long as we constantly have something to do, you won't really notice."

"You're doing just fine," Ashley said, giggling when he stole one of her snacks. "I was just wondering why Talli didn't want to come. I told you earlier that I didn't mind."

"After all that ice cream she ate, she was in no condition for a fair," he said.

"She's not sick, is she?"

Andros shook his head. "She spent a couple of hours running around on a sugar high and crashed," he explained. "But she's okay… She's not really old enough to ride most of these rides anyway."

Ashley nodded in understanding but said nothing else for a while as she finished the last of her snack and started on her bottle of water.

"What's on your mind?" Andros asked when she had been silent for what had seemed like forever.

"Nothing," Ashley replied.

"Then, you're blocking me out for nothing, I guess?" Andros asked, taking a sip of his own water. "You're not having fun?"

"No, I'm having fun," Ashley insisted. "I really am, Andros. It's just… you really don't want to talk about what happened to you, do you?"

Andros let out a long breath. "Why would I want to do that?" he asked. "It happened and it's over now. It's not anything that we should keep dwelling on. I'm already over it."

"That's just it," Ashley sighed. "_You're_ over it, but no one else is just yet. And I'm starting to wonder if maybe you're pretending to be over it so that we won't worry about you. But we're only worrying more when you act like it wasn't a big deal."

Andros picked at his fingernails a while. "What is it that you want me to say?" he asked softly. "You want me to tell you how scared I was? Or what I was thinking about when it happened? Whether or not I saw proof of an afterlife? Or white lights?"

"Anything would be fine," Ashley said. "I didn't feel our connection as strongly as I did the minute you died, Andros. But _you've_ been blocking your thoughts from _me_ too and maybe… I don't know."

"Maybe that's why you wanted to…," Andros began, clearing his throat. "You wanted to make sure that we were still connecting. It's the same reason that I wanted to take you out on a date, Ashley. And we _are_ connecting. Talking about my death won't connect us on any deeper level."

Ashley lowered her eyes. "Are we fighting?" she asked, stopping in her tracks.

"Maybe a little," Andros admitted. "Did you want to stop?"

"Yes," she replied. "So, how do we end this?"

Andros motioned for her to follow him again. "Well, we should probably start by changing the subject," he suggested. "I can't really think of anything though."

Ashley felt for Andros' hand, grasping onto it as they walked and finally leaning onto his shoulder. "How much longer do you think you'll have with Talli and Onell?" she asked sadly.

"Maybe a few days or so," Andros replied, leaning his head against hers. "If we aren't attacked and I can figure out a safe place to take them, where Astronema can't get to them, then maybe longer than that."

"And hopefully Sadi won't show up and ruin things for us… again," Ashley said, frowning at the thought of her.

"She might," Andros said, sharing Ashley's frown. "We'll be on KO-35, the one place where Sadi knows I'm vulnerable. After what happened to the other rangers… Ashley, I think that I'm really going to need you tomorrow."

Ashley glanced up at him. "Whatever you need me to do," she said, smiling against his arm.

"It's just… to get to the temple where the dorig belongs, we have to pass a few places that mean something to me," he explained. "And I know that I'll have Zhane and Aeden, but I doubt that they'll be willing to hold my hand… The sooner we can leave that place, the better."

"That's your home that you're talking about," Ashley reminded him.

"KO-35 hasn't been my home in years, Ashley," Andros said, shaking his head. "And I haven't been there in a while, so I don't know exactly how I'll react to seeing it again."

"I'll be there as long as you need me," she assured him, turning to him and gently kissing his lips. He just as gently pulled away from her after a few moments and she stood staring at him, the same confusion in her eyes that she had the first time he pulled away from her. "Someday, I'll start punishing you for pulling away from me like that."

Andros smiled. "It's getting dark," he said. "That means that it's getting late and I'll have to take you back to the ship soon. And there's actually something else that I brought you here to see."

"Really?" Ashley asked with a grin. "What is it?"

"I wouldn't waste time being so secretive unless it was a secret," he replied, receiving a playful tap from Ashley as she stuck her tongue out at him.

"If you can't tell me what you're up to, will you at least tell me where we're headed?" she asked.

Andros pointed to a shaded spot just outside of the fairgrounds that was only lit by the flashing lights of the fair. He took her hand again and led her to the area he had pointed out to her, actually going beyond it past several trees and sitting on the ground. He waited for her to do the same before he spoke again.

"I don't know if this date is what you expected," he began. "But for me, it's been maybe the most fun I've had in a long time."

"Me too," Ashley said sincerely, seeing the smile in his eyes before he actually did so.

As he took a quick glance up at the sky, she could see that his eyes were closer to brown now, almost dark enough to match her own. And somehow, coupled with his smile, he seemed to get more attractive with every second that he looked into her eyes. She only noticed that he was holding her hand again when his thumb lightly strummed across her fingers and she realized suddenly that he had started talking again.

"And that's why elevators make the worst lifesavers," he was saying when she shook herself out of her trance.

"What?" Ashley asked.

Andros smiled again. "You were gone for a while," he said.

"I'm sorry," Ashley said, briefly covering her face with her free hand in slight embarrassment. "I just, um, I just got distracted somehow."

Andros gently took her other hand from in front of her face and held onto it. "I've spent all day thinking, the last few days actually… and I've been trying to justify my feelings for you. Well, not the feelings, but the strength of them, why they're so intense, you know?"

Ashley nodded. "And what did you come up with?" she asked.

"You make me smile," he said softly. "You're beautiful and you're one of the greatest people I've ever known. Why wouldn't I love you?"

Ashley lowered her eyes and blushed, surprised by the effect of his words on her.

"And I do love you, Ashley," he continued, noticing as she raised her eyes again that she had only just realized what he had just said to her.

"I love you too," she said, holding tightly onto his hands and feeling like she might float away if she let go.

Suddenly, the lights around them faded to create complete darkness and Ashley squeezed Andros' hands more.

"I'm still here," he assured her.

"What happened?" Ashley asked.

"Look up at the sky," he said simply.

Ashley tilted her head back and look up at what she could only assume in the pitch-black darkness was the sky. Something in the sky flashed brightly in the distance and a stream of colored ribbons seemed to fall around them, lighting the sky briefly before disappearing into the darkness. Not long after, there were several other flashes above the fair and seemingly hundreds of brightly colored squiggles lit the sky again and Ashley gasped in awe as they began to descend.

"What _is_ this?" she finally asked.

"This is the reason that the fair is held every 418 days," Andros answered. "It's the week that the ochets are born."

"Ochets," Ashley repeated. "Then, these things are alive? Can I…?"

Andros smiled. "Sure," he replied, holding up his hand towards the sky and lightly curling his fingers down when he felt something land on the back of his hand. He lowered his hand and watched the small glowing creature wrap its thin tail around his wrist.

Ashley took a single finger and lightly stroked its slender body, glad that with the appearance of a garden snake, it did not feel like one. It was much softer.

"It's cute," Ashley said. "But it flew, didn't it?"

"Give it a minute," Andros said, blowing gently on its tail until the ochet unwrapped itself from Andros and spread brightly glowing wings, larger than the width of his hand. Ashley watched in wonder as it took off into the sky and, with the rest of the ochets, lingered and glowed around the other fairgoers a bit longer before flying high above them towards an unseen destination until they were all gone, taking the light with them.

"I think that might have been the most beautiful thing I've ever seen," Ashley said as the lights of the fair turned back on. "Thank you for bringing me here."

"I'm thankful for any extended period that I don't have to think about the prophecy," he replied. "So, thank _you_."

Ashley smiled and blushed again, lowering her eyes in embarrassment for the second time that night. But this time, something that caught the light captured her attention. She slowly released her hand from Andros' and looked at the silver band around her finger that glittered with six red stones.

"Andros," she breathed, unsure of what to say.

"I was wondering how long it would take you to notice," he said with a smile. "I bought it from one of the stands here during the three minutes that we weren't side by side."

"Andros," she said again, slowly shaking her head in amazement.

"Don't worry," he said, reading the nervousness on her face that mixed with the excitement. "I didn't bring you here to ask you to marry me… yet. And I know it's not the best ring in the world, I mean, it _did_ come from a fair. But I love you and I wanted to give you something that you can look at, the few times that I might not be around, that will remind you of how much I really do love you."

Ashley's eyes filled with happy tears and she let out a shaky sigh. "You think I'd ever be able to forget how much you love me?" she asked, shaking her head. "Are you kidding me? You didn't have to get me a ring to make me remember that."

"It's also a stand-in for any other rings I may decide to slip on your finger later on in our relationship," he said, half jokingly.

"You want to marry me or something?" Ashley grinned.

"Someday," Andros answered honestly. "Does that scare you?"

Ashley shook her head.

"Well, it scares me that it _doesn't_ scare you," he said.

"What scares you is the speed of our relationship," she said softly. "That doesn't scare me. I grew up believing that true love could come along and sweep you off your feet in an instant. I was read books about the handsome prince that meets a beautiful woman and falls deeply in love with her, almost for no reason. Love at first sight, all that stuff –I really believe in it. That's why it doesn't scare me."

Andros grinned. "Is that who I am?" he asked. "Your handsome prince?"

"You didn't know?" Ashley asked, leaning forward and kissing his upper lip gently.

He returned her kiss, taking the slight tilt of her head as a hint that she was not quite finished with kissing him. So they continued, keeping their hands innocently by their sides… at first. Ashley was the first to venture forth in search of Andros' back, which only prompted him to bring his hand up to the back of her neck. And he would have remained content to stay in that kiss forever, but he noticed after a moment how far up his thigh Ashley's other hand was traveling and he pulled back from her.

"Didn't I mention a punishment for pulling away from me like that?" Ashley asked, trying not to look as annoyed as she felt.

"Ashley," he began sternly.

"Andros," Ashley said somewhat mockingly instead. "If this is about your little talk with Zhane…"

"How do you know –?" he started to ask, realizing how dumb a question it would have been. "It's not about that. I don't have to prove anything to him or anyone else."

"Then, what?" Ashley asked. "I already told you that the speed of our relationship doesn't scare me."

"I know," Andros replied. "But I already told you earlier that I didn't think that we were ready for this yet."

Ashley looked into his eyes a moment, trying to see into him a little deeper, but he blocked her out suddenly and she let out a sigh. "I don't mean to keep pressuring you," she said, kissing his cheek. "But I want to ask you a few questions. Would you be willing to do that?"

"Of course," Andros answered with a nod.

"They're just yes or no questions though," she explained. "So, that's the only way you can answer me. You can't say 'maybe' or 'yes, but' –just 'yes' or 'no'. Okay?"

"Okay," he said.

"Let's do an easy one," she said. "Do you love me?"

"Yes," Andros replied quickly. "But this isn't about –"

"Yes or no only," Ashley interrupted, waiting until Andros nodded before continuing. "Do you like when I kiss you?"

"Yes."

Ashley slid closer to him and gave him a small peck on the lips. "Do you want to kiss me now?" she asked in a hushed tone that Andros had never heard before.

"Yes," he answered, receiving another small kiss from her.

"Now, for the hard questions," she said, wrapping her arms around his neck as she began to kiss a small area of it. "Do you want to make love to me?"

"Ash," Andros began.

"Yes… or no," Ashley said simply, proceeding with her kisses.

Andros bit his bottom lip. "Yes," he admitted, unable to pull away from her at the moment.

"Right now?" Ashley asked.

Andros nodded shamefully. "Yes," he whispered.

"Bonus question," Ashley said, running her fingers through his hair as she began to kiss his jawline. "And it's not a yes or no this time… What's stopping you? Why do you think we're not ready?"

He sighed heavily as Ashley kept kissing him. "This is our first date, Ashley," he said. "Do you really want that reputation?"

Ashley pulled back from him and let out a sigh not unlike Andros'. "If you just want to joke about this," she started.

"It's not you," he blurted out. "_I'm_ stopping me from making love to you because, as much as I really didn't want to admit this after having just denied it, Zhane was right. In my whole life, I've been with one woman, _one_ time, and I have a daughter."

"This is about not wanting more kids?"

"For now," Andros said. "Part of the reason I don't want to is because I don't want to take that chance."

Ashley pushed her hair behind her ears. "What's the other reason?" she asked. "Because I'm almost certain that you'd have never given the prospect of more children a second thought if you hadn't talked to Zhane today. I also know that if you were really worried about that, you'd have taken the necessary precautions to prevent it… So what's the real reason, Andros? If it's not me, then what? Morals? Ethics? Fear?"

Andros lowered his eyes. "All of the above," he sighed. "But more than anything else, I don't want to ruin our relationship by moving too fast. And you can tell me that it won't, but that isn't true. Once we're together, there may not be anywhere else for us to go."

"Marriage, children –shall I continue the list?" Ashley asked. "There are plenty of places for us to go in our relationship. But if you can't think of any, then I'll give you some suggestions when the time comes. This is probably the strongest feeling that we've shared since everything that happened on Kurakk. If we want each other, ignoring it isn't exactly bringing us any closer either."

"Fine," Andros said. "Then, let me ask you a question. Do you think that it will bring us closer together?"

"I don't know," she replied. "Do you?"

"Yes," he said. "And we're Oaeta… It already hurts physically when you leave a room. If we go further in our relationship and something does happen to me, then the next time my heart stops… yours might too, literally."

"If I was worried about that, I'd have broken things up between us by now," Ashley said. "So, I'll ask you one more time before I get up and head back to the fair… Do you want to make love to me?"

Andros looked deeply into Ashley's eyes, unable to resist the loneliness in her voice this time as he slowly touched his lips to hers. "Yes," he breathed, locking lips with her again and lifting his arms as she hungrily lifted his shirt over his head.

She began to kiss his bare chest and shoulders, pausing only to glance up at his expression. He still looked so serious, even when she was sure that he was enjoying himself. Even she had a small smile on her face, but his smile had gone for now. She stopped kissing him again, crossing her arms to pull her yellow top over her head.

Andros seemed almost frozen as she tossed it aside to pile onto his own abandoned shirt. But as soon as it was out of her hands, he began to kiss her shoulders and neck until Ashley began to slowly lean herself backward. She had managed to lean back far enough to need upper body support from her one free arm, and this is when Andros stopped again suddenly, staring into her eyes intensely enough to make her wonder if it would be a good idea to read his thoughts.

"Can I ask you one last question?" Andros asked. "Yes or no only."

"Andros, I'm sure that I want to do this," she said, her voice just above a whisper.

"Oh, I know," he replied. "I wanted to ask you something else."

"Oh," she muttered. "Well, what then?"

Andros kept his eyes locked with hers a moment longer, unable to resist kissing her any longer though showing good self-control as he kissed her neck, tugging tenderly at her earlobe with his teeth.

"What is it, Andros?" she asked in between groans.

He released her ear and whispered into it. "Can I… take my time?" he asked her in a voice so innocent and soft that it nearly made her cry.

"Yes," she answered just as quietly, wanting him even more as he smiled at her in response. She leaned back further until her back finally connected with the ground and smiled back at him before closing her eyes and letting him take control.


	41. Chapter 41

Ch 41

Andros opened his eyes to the sound of a soft moan. He looked down and watched as Ashley slept soundly on his chest, recalling their night together with a smile. As she slept, she smiled a little too, and he wondered if she might have been dreaming about him now. He was almost afraid to even breathe now as she began to stir a little, curling a few strands of his hair around her fingers with a contented sigh. The red stones from her ring cast a faint red reflection onto the blanket that just half covered them and the ground under them.

And so he just watched her quietly, every once in a while feeling her fingers move in his hair. He gently stroked her head, playing with her hair a little as he waited patiently for her to open her eyes.

And within moments, they fluttered open and she looked up at him with her soft brown eyes, smiling when she realized where she was.

"Hey," she said, untwirling his hair from around her finger. "I didn't wake you, did I?"

Andros shook his head. "I don't usually sleep longer than a couple of hours at a time anyway," he said as Ashley sat up and scooted closer to him, wrapping her arms around his waist as he sat up.

"So… any regrets?" she asked, unable to look him in the eyes until he kissed the top of her head.

"Why would I have any regrets?" he asked, resting his head on hers.

"Well, you didn't want to…"

"I just didn't want to move too fast," he sighed, taking her hand and watching the red stones of her ring continue to glitter in the sunlight. "And we did anyway, but I don't regret it… Do you?"

"Of course not," she said, staring happily at her ring and giggling after a moment to herself. "But I'm wondering now if anyone saw us."

Andros smiled. "I don't think so," he said. "I hadn't even really thought about it though."

Ashley giggled again, looking ahead of her as the sun continued to rise higher into the sky, dispersing the various purple and orange clouds that became light pink and yellow in hue. "The sky is so pretty here," she sighed happily.

"Yeah," Andros agreed softly. "My dad used to go on and on about the sunrise here. Every time he would come here, he would –"

Ashley looked up at Andros when he stopped talking, watching him closely as he stared ahead of them blankly for a moment.

"What's wrong?" Ashley finally asked when Andros got to his feet suddenly.

"It's sunrise," he said, rushing to get his clothes on.

"So what?" Ashley replied, beginning to put her own clothes back on.

"We were only supposed to be here for a few hours," he explained, attempting to hide the panic in his voice. "We were supposed to be orbiting KO-35 by now and I told Zhane that we would be back on the ship before then."

"Then, Zhane might've left us here?" Ashley asked, beginning to share in his panic as she hurriedly got dressed. "Will we be able to reach him on his communicator?"

"Maybe," Andros answered as Ashley huddled over to him and they stared hopefully at his communicator. He lifted his arm closer to his face and tried to calm his voice again before he began to speak. "Zhane, come in."

There was no immediate response and Andros glanced at Ashley before closing his eyes and regaining his calm.

"Zhane, come in," he said again.

"It's Zhane," Andros heard come from his communicator. "Is everything okay?"

"No," Ashley replied before Andros could answer. "How far is the ship from Duumyx?"

There was a short pause. "I don't know," Zhane answered. "Pretty far, I guess. Why?"

"We're still here," Andros said.

"You're still on Duumyx?" Zhane asked incredulously. "You said that you'd be back in time."

"We fell asleep," Ashley said, nearly wanting to cry now as she turned to Andros. "What are we supposed to do now?"

Andros shook his head. "There isn't anything that we _can_ do," he sighed. "We're too far out of teleportation range. The ship would have to turn around to get us."

"Or," Zhane began slowly. "One of you could just say 'stop simulation' and end this really cruel joke."

Andros glanced around him briefly and narrowed his eyes at a blinking red light that he had been meaning to replace on the Simudeck for months. "You didn't," he said into the communicator, already knowing what the answer would be.

"Sorry," Zhane replied with a laugh. "I couldn't resist."

"As soon as I find you, I'm going to kill you," Andros growled.

"Stop simulation," Ashley called out, watching their scenery fade around them to reveal the gray Simudeck walls. She shook her head and smiled, wondering how she and Andros had not noticed on their own. But she was glad that the Megaship had not left them. That would have been difficult to explain to the other rangers. Well, not difficult, but certainly a little embarrassing.

"Don't worry, guys," Zhane said, still laughing a little. "I didn't invade your privacy. I asked DECA to teleport you back onto the Megaship after a certain time, regardless of what you were doing. And when she told me that you two were still sleeping, I couldn't help myself. It was the perfect opportunity to mess with you."

"I'm still going to kill you," Andros replied, though Ashley hugged him and he calmed down a little.

"You can get me back later," Zhane said. "We're meeting on KO-35 in the next hour. So get something to eat, change your clothes, and reconsider killing me until after we get back."

"Thank you, Zhane," Ashley said, covering Andros' mouth before he could say what she had thought she heard him say in her head. "We'll see you in a minute."

When Zhane did not say anything else, Ashley lowered her hand from over Andros' mouth.

"Just remember," she began, embracing him again. "He could've left us there and we'd really be in trouble. But he didn't."

"I know," Andros replied with a sigh, relaxing more as they continued to hold each other. "I'm glad he didn't. I would've thanked him if you hadn't covered my mouth."

Ashley pulled back from him a little ways and raised an eyebrow. "Those aren't the words that I heard you getting ready to say in my head," she pointed out.

"He would've known what I meant," he said with a smile, leading her away from the Simudeck.

_0_0_0_

There had been no signs of the Dark Fortress when the rangers teleported to the surface of KO-35. But they knew well that it would be foolish to assume that she would not follow them there, especially after they heard what Andros had recently said to her.

They had teleported to the outskirts of the colony, a spot that barely looked like it could have ever supported life. It was a place that was just barely lit by the sun, but not enough to allow much of anything to grow there. And as Andros looked around at the lack of growth and the absence of life in general, he was reminded of Omni-8 and he shuddered. He was traumatized enough having to be on KO-35; the last thing he needed was to be reminded of his miserable time on Omni-8.

They walked along a wide pathway, pulled toward a force that they could only assume was from the Karovan dorig's temple that stood several hundred feet ahead of them in the guise of yet another cave that would hold a powerful item that Astronema would be after to fulfill the prophecy.

Finally, they approached the entrance to the cave, stopping to wait for Andros, who had lagged behind them the entire way. He still looked solemn as he passed the others, silent with his eyes lowered as he led the others inside the temple.

DECA had warned them ahead of time that there should not be any guards to watch out for nor would there be any traps to consider. The threat of losing the universe had once been more than enough to keep even the most evil villains away from the dorig. Only a few had attempted to remove it from the temple in hopes of using it elsewhere, not knowing that it could only be used on KO-35. Now that the rangers had the dorig, they wondered if they were in danger of being followed by anyone or anything that might want it. Sure, there had been no sign of them being followed by Astronema, but that alone was suspicious enough to make the rangers rethink leaving the dorig behind. However, Andros had reassured them that the dorig would be safe in its temple.

After a few minutes of continued silence as Andros led the way, the rangers turned a corner and came upon a large room with an empty pedestal on the far side of the room. Andros slowly approached it, motioning for Zhane to come forward with the dorig. Very carefully, Zhane placed the small box onto the pedestal and stepped back, waiting to see if anything might happen because of it. But nothing did and he and the rangers relaxed.

"What now?" Zhane asked. "We have to figure out a way to keep Astronema and Darkonda away from it."

"I told you not to worry," Andros said with a sigh. "We have enough power collectively to seal the dorig off from the whole world if we concentrate. Once we seal it, the only ones able to break the seal will be the ones that created it –us."

"What do we do first?" Cassie asked.

"We surround it," Andros said, waiting until the rangers were spaced out around the pedestal before continuing. "Then, concentrate your powers like Sadi taught you to do with your weapons."

"Are you sure we won't destroy it that way?" Carlos asked a little nervously. "And possibly doom the universe?"

"Only if you draw your weapon," Andros replied, shaking his head. "So, just concentrate as hard as you can."

The rangers all closed their eyes and concentrated the way that Sadi had taught them, trying not to concentrate on the fact that _she_ had been the one to teach them the technique. Just as she had said, they pictured the flame of energy within them growing larger and larger until they could feel it at their fingertips. They held out their hands to the dorig and released all of that energy at once, only opening their eyes when they felt the power leave them completely. When they opened their eyes again, the dorig remained where they had left it, though there was no evidence of a barrier around it.

"Did it work?" Ashley asked, holding her hand out to feel for it.

Andros caught her hand before she could get too close to the dorig, shaking his head at her as he released her and bent down to pick up a pebble from the ground. He took a step backward and tossed it in the dorig's direction, squinting as the pebble glowed brightly as a visible current of electricity sent it flying in the opposite direction.

"I think it worked," Zhane said, looking over his shoulder at the smoking pebble on the ground. "Back to the ship?"

"Sounds good to me," Andros said, taking a final look around before leading the way out of the room.

The rangers exited the temple, still a little worried about whether or not the dorig would remain safe without anyone guarding it. But as they headed back down the path and thought about it more, they decided that the dorig would not be anymore safe with them than in the temple.

Ashley walked a little faster to catch up with Andros, who stared ahead of him and said nothing as they walked. He acknowledged her with a small smile, holding her hand when she had completely caught up with him.

"Thanks for saving my hand," she said with a smile, already feeling that he was too tense to return it. "Did we already pass it?"

"The meeting place?" Andros asked flatly as he attempted to block out as many of Ashley's thoughts out of his head as he could. "We'll pass it before we get close enough to teleport to the ship. We went around it on our way to the temple, so I didn't have to look at it earlier."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Ashley asked, wondering if he would make blocking her from his thoughts a habit. "We could've gone back that way."

"I'm the one who walked us through here," he said. "I think I'll be okay."

Ashley sighed and they continued up the path toward the area that Andros dreaded with every step. Every once in a while, she was able to hear his thoughts, but it was always the same one –'I'll be okay'. And Ashley would remain pacified for a while longer as she waited to hear it again. It was not until they were just a few feet away from a large field of mostly dead grass and dirt that she realized that he really was _not_ okay. Because at that moment, his thoughts became somewhat chaotic and she could see the tears in his eyes as they completely passed by the area and teleported back onto the ship.

"Andros," she said softly, feeling him relax a little at hearing her voice as she leaned her head against his shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Andros replied shakily with a nod. "I'm fine. I just felt… strange all of a sudden. I can't really describe it. It was almost like that feeling that I got when you were away from me at the hospital. It was like –"

"Like you were being torn in two directions?" Zhane suggested, walking up to them. "Like the last part of your soul was in that place and you just… let it go?"

"In a way, you did," Ashley said softly. "You guys experienced horrible things there, a place you used to call home and haven't called your home in a long time. Some part of you is still there –a part that hasn't let go of your memories, the good and bad."

Andros and Zhane nodded sadly, though they did not seem too sure.

"DECA, take us out of orbit," Zhane said when Andros stood silent for a while. "The sooner we get away from here, the better."

"That would not be wise," DECA simply.

"DECA, please spare us any psychoanalysis that you've prepared," Andros said tiredly. "There's nothing left for us here right now. We should go."

"I cannot take the Astro Megaship out of orbit until everyone returns to the ship," DECA informed him.

"Who isn't here?" Andros asked.

_0_0_0_

Talli stood staring up at the small, familiar gray house in front of her, holding her breath as she walked closer to it and letting it out only when she reached the doorway.

She really wished that her father had gone with her, but he had already told her that it might not be a good idea for her to go at all. And she wondered how much trouble she would be in when he found out that she had tricked DECA and Onell to sneak off the ship. She was surprised that Onell and DECA had believed her story and she left as soon as she had convinced them, smart enough to know that they might figure out the truth after a while. But she did not understand why everyone would be so opposed to letting her see her home. It was her _home_.

Talli had teleported in front of what she had only referred to as 'the old house' to DECA, taking in the minor damage that she noticed around it. In fact, it seemed to be one of the only houses in that area that had not been almost completely destroyed. When she walked up to the door, it slid open automatically with a loud whoosh, making her jump a little. But she stepped inside anyway and looked around.

Nothing was different as far as she could tell, save for a few cobwebs and a few layers of dust. However, the chaos of Dark Specter's attack and of the last day her family had lived there was not evident inside the house at all. Every room that she looked in was the same as Talli last remembered seeing it, even when she got up enough courage to go upstairs, she noticed that most of the beds were still made.

Talli walked into her old bedroom, still jumping when the door whooshed open. It was the same too, a small bed with short bars around it and light blue sheets. She walked over to the bed and sat on it, sliding back onto the bed until her back touched the wall. She lied down sadly, trying to remember what her life was like in her house. She could only remember little things specifically about her room. She knew that she had been happy there, most of all when her father was around and she recalled being sad whenever she had to stay with her mother. She tried to remember the bedtime stories that she used to stay up late to hear from Andros when he would come back late from his missions. But the stories all seemed to meld together as one and she could not distinguish one from the other.

The door whooshed open again suddenly and Talli sat up, knowing that this was not her father's presence. A young woman with blonde hair walked into the room, looking surprised to see the little girl sitting there.

"Hi," the young woman said with a smile. "I didn't know that anyone else was here."

"Who are you?" Talli asked, watching the woman carefully as she made her way to the bed.

The young woman stood away from the bed, seeing that the child was still wary of her. "I was kind of hoping to run into someone who could tell me," she replied. "I wasn't exactly sure why, but something drew me to this house and into this room. And since I started looking around, I realized that I might have lived here once."

"I used to live here too," Talli said softly. "This was my room."

"I think it might have been my room a long time ago too," the woman said, sitting down on the edge of the bed but still far enough away from Talli to satisfy her. She lowered her eyes and untucked a silver locket from her shirt's collar before lifting it over her head and lowering it onto her lap. She opened it and stared sadly at the photos inside.

Talli's interest was peaked, but she still did not trust the woman enough to scoot any closer to her. Instead, she was at that moment trying to think of a way to get back to the Megaship, but she had no communicator and she had no other way to teleport. She would have to wait for someone to come get her.

"This is the only thing that I have now," the woman was saying, still looking down at the pictures. "Someone told me that this locket was made from a metal only found in the Karova system. And the only planet in this system that could support a colony of humans is KO-35. But when I got here, all I found was destruction. Not a single person was left here… All I've wanted since I was taken away from my family was to go back home."

"Somebody took you away?" Talli asked somewhat sympathetically.

The woman nodded. "A monster took me from home when I was a little girl and I've been trying to find my way back ever since," she said.

Talli thought a moment and scooted closer to the woman, just enough to see the locket in her hands and the pictures of the two children inside. "Those are the same pictures that my daddy has in his," she said happily. "You're his sister Karone."

"Karone?" the woman repeated, becoming satisfied with the way it sounded when she said it a second time. "Karone… that name _is_ familiar to me. And my family… they're alive?"

"Almost everybody from the colony is alive," Talli said. "We had to leave here when Dark Specter attacked us. Now they're all on –"

Talli stopped, suddenly aware of what she had almost done. Even if this was really her family, she had been told several times in the past few days not to reveal the location of the Rebels to anyone. And she had almost told someone who she had only known for a few minutes.

"Please, Talli," the woman said with tears in her eyes, clasping her hands around Talli's. "If my family is alive, I have to see them. Please tell me where they are."

"How do you know my name?" Talli asked, knowing the answer as the woman grasped her hands tighter.

"Because she's your Aunt Karone," Andros said, standing by the open door and staring daggers at the young woman. "I should've known you'd want to come home."

"I suppose you think you have me all figured out," the woman said, shaking her hair out and somehow turning it a dark blue before transforming her clothes into a suit of battle gear that Andros knew well. Before Andros could get closer to her, she stood up and pulled Talli in front of her. "But you're the unpredictable one, brother. You can't imagine my surprise at finding my little niece here, unescorted, after our conversation yesterday."

"How predictable am I?" Ashley asked, walking into the room with her blaster pointed at Astronema.

"You brought reinforcements after all," Astronema said with a smile. "I suppose you should now that you don't have your Spiral Saber anymore."

"Let her go," Ashley said firmly.

"I wouldn't hurt her," Astronema said, looking down at Talli and then back at Andros. "She's just a child."

"Then, let her go," Andros replied.

But Astronema just smiled at him, holding Talli's wrist firmly until she noticed suddenly that her hand was getting warm… very warm. She looked down at Talli, who stood with her eyes firmly closed but shaking a little. Astronema looked over at her hands, burned suddenly by Talli's now-glowing wrists. She let out a frustrated groan and let the child go, giving Talli more than enough time to get behind Andros.

"One of you will pay for that," Astronema said through clenched teeth. "I think I'll go with you, Red Ranger. You have two hours. You already know what I want from you."

"The sword," Andros said with a nod. "But you'll never get it if I have anything to say about it."

"In two hours, you'll have plenty to say about it," she said, glaring at him and Talli, who peaked from behind him to in time to see Astronema disappear.

Ashley lowered her weapon, receiving a quick hug from Talli before moving on to Andros.

"Talli," he said, struggling to sound stern as she pulled back from him and he looked into her sweet, innocent face. "You could've been…" He trailed off, not even sure that he could picture such a horrible thing.

"I'm sorry, daddy," Talli said in a small voice. "I just wanted to see our house."

"I told you yesterday that it wouldn't be a good idea," he replied. "And coming by yourself? What if we hadn't gotten to you in time? What if Astronema had taken you?"

"You wouldn't have let her take me," Talli said.

Andros sighed. "To be honest with you, Talli," he said, not sure that he should be too honest with her now. "The only reason that Astronema didn't take you from me today is because she didn't want to. She can teleport wherever she wants at any time. So, she only grabbed you to upset me. If she had wanted to take you with her, there isn't anything that I could've done to stop her."

Talli studied the hurt on his face a moment before lowering her eyes. "I'm sorry," she said again, well on the verge of tears. "But I wasn't scared because I knew you would come back to get me… I thought you wanted to see our house too. You told me you did… I just wanted to wait for you here. DECA said that the Dark Fortress was far away, so I thought…"

Finally, her tears spilled over and Andros bent down to wipe her tears. "I'm not angry," he reassured her. "I just don't want anything to happen to you. I can't promise you that I'll always get here in time, but when I can, you're right, I'll protect you."

"But this time, he didn't have to," Ashley said, saying to her what Andros was thinking aloud. "You made Astronema let you go… How did you do that?"

Talli kept her eyes lowered and more tears came as she stood there silently, unable or unwilling to answer. After a moment, she only managed to shrug.

Andros sighed, already knowing the answer. "Did mommy teach you how to do that?" he asked softly, pausing a moment as Talli nodded. "Did she teach you anything else?"

Talli looked up at him guiltily and slowly nodded again.

"Will you show me?" he asked, almost afraid to find out what Sadi could have taught her.

"Do I have to?" Talli asked in a small voice.

"Not right now," Andros said, a little hurt that Talli was already willing to keep things from him. He had hoped that at least a few more years would pass before she reached that stage. "But I would like you to show me later."

"Okay," she said, sounding as if she might cry again as she looked around one last time before taking Andros' hand and letting him lead her out of the room.

They all walked silently through the house, reaching the front door in almost no time at all. By then, Talli's tears had dried and she even reached out to hold Ashley's hand after a while. Once they were outside, something bright and red caught Talli's eye.

"I like your ring," Talli said, briefly releasing Andros' hand to run her finger along the six stones. "Did you get it on your date?"

"Yeah, your dad bought it for me," Ashley replied, looking down at the ring again herself.

"So, you liked the fair?" Talli asked, glancing from her to Andros and back. "It was _my_ idea."

"Oh, it was, was it?" she asked, meeting Andros' eyes and smiling when he pretended to look away guiltily. "Well, I loved the fair and I hope that you can come with us next time."

"Next year, I'll be old enough to ride the bigger rides," Talli said. "But I wanted you and daddy to have a real date. Onell said you would probably want to be alone. And Zhane said that you would want to be alone in the dark, so I tried to think of a place where it gets dark and you can be alone. And I know that the fair has the ochets that come out in the dark."

"Well, I'll be sure to… _thank_ Zhane when I get back," Andros said, lifting his communicator just as it made a sound along with Ashley's.

Before he could say a word, Zhane's somewhat panicked voice cut through. "Ashley, Andros, we need you back on the ship immediately," he said, not bothering to wait for them to answer before cutting off communications between them.

Ashley and Andros exchanged a look before teleporting themselves and Talli back to the Astro Megaship.

_0_0_0_

"What's going on, DECA?" Andros asked as he and Ashley walked toward the bridge.

"An urgent transmission was received from the A.D.A. Galactic Force," she informed them just as they reached the bridge.

"She's got us," Zhane said as soon as he saw Andros.

"What do you mean?" he asked. "She who?"

"Astronema," Zhane answered, nodding toward the main viewing screen as something flashed on it over and over. "Is Talli back? Can we leave?"

"Everyone is onboard," DECA informed him. "Leaving KO-35's orbit now."

"What's going on?" Ashley asked. "What did she do?"

"She hit home… literally," Zhane said. "The Rebels are under attack."

"We just saw her," Ashley said. "She grabbed Talli."

T.J. stared in concern at the information on his screen. "The Rebels are being attacked by Darkonda and about fifty Velocifighters," he said. "According to the A.D.A. Galactic Force, they don't stand a chance without some major help, but…"

"Well, how soon can we get there?" Andros asked.

"They called in Phantom Ranger and a few other rangers that are closer to them," Cassie said. "But they were called out on missions and right now they're farther out than we are."

"How soon can we get there?" Andros asked again, more firmly.

The main viewing screen flashed again and went dark, creating a line of static before Astronema appeared on it with a smile.

"Hello again, rangers," she said. "I'm sure you've noticed a bit of chaos around you, or rather… around a colony of familiar-looking people."

"_Your_ people," Aeden pointed out with a sigh.

"You have exactly two hours to make a decision," she went on. "No more, no less. Either you give up the sword, or I signal Darkonda to have the planet and _everyone_ on it destroyed. Assume that I'm bluffing and we'll see how afraid of me you really are."

The screen went dark and Andros walked over to his console, turning to face his somewhat frantic friends. They finally looked up at him after a few moments.

"How soon can we get there?" he asked more calmly this time, knowing by the looks on their faces that the outlook must be grim.

"At Hyper Rush velocity," Zhane began slowly. "We'll reach the Rebels _three_ hours from now… maybe longer than that."

Andros sat down and glanced from the sad faces of his friends to his lap, closing his eyes as he let the reality of the situation wash over him for a minute. And he could think of nothing now –no plans, no suggestions, nothing at all. He could only think of one thing and he hated to say it, but it was the absolute truth.

"She's got us," he said in a defeated voice. "She's really got us."


	42. Chapter 42

Ch 42

"What's wrong?" Talli asked for the third time in five minutes, sitting on the floor of the Simudeck with Andros, who was just barely into their game of tag and had given up.

But pretending that he was someplace else while he and the rangers rushed to help the Rebels was not helping him and Andros could not feign happiness for much longer. Playing games with Talli and Onell had seemed like a good temporary solution to his current woes, but it was much harder to pretend that nothing was wrong in front of them, the two people who could read him as well as he could read them, than to face the issue with his friends. He would be facing reality again soon enough; in half an hour to be exact.

Andros, realizing that he had not answered her once in those five minutes, again said nothing, only shaking his head with a sigh as he sat on the simulated grass beside her and attempting to once more change the subject as Onell stood back a ways from them. After a second, he finally thought of something that even Talli could not change the subject on so easily.

"Why didn't you tell me that you had powers?" he asked her, gently taking her hand in his.

"I don't know," Talli replied sadly, looking up at him. "Mommy found out by accident too."

"Then, she taught you how to control it?" Andros guessed, watching Talli nod just as sadly. He tried to feign a smile. "I didn't ask to make you feel bad… I know that when I was your age, I'd have loved to have powers. It'd be nice to have some now… You're not even a little excited about it?"

Talli shook her head.

"Why not?" he asked. "I kind of am."

"I _was_ a little bit at first," she replied. "But then after mommy found out, she said that I was…"

"That you were like her?" Andros suggested, watching tears fill Talli's eyes and holding out his arms to her. "I wouldn't worry about that, Talli."

"She said that I was a monster like her," she said, beginning to cry as he wrapped his arms around her. "I don't want to be a monster… and I don't want to be like her."

"You're not a monster," Andros assured her, pulling back from her until she met his eyes. "And you're nothing like her… When I look at you, all I see is my beautiful little Talli. You can't _become_ Sadi when you get older, no matter what she tries to make you believe. You can only be Talli."

"Can I get rid of my powers?" she asked after a moment.

"Well, there might be a way," Andros began with a sigh. "But I wouldn't want to risk losing anything that makes you Talli, so I wouldn't… But if you really want to get rid of them –"

"You don't know how," Talli guessed, smiling a little as she wiped away her tears and looked up at him.

Andros smiled back. "I don't," he admitted. "But you don't have to use them if you don't want to. I just wanted to see what you could do."

"Do I have to show you now?" she asked, really looking as though she could not stand to do so.

"No," he said, standing up and dusting himself off before helping her to her feet. "Are you two hungry?"

"We already ate before we came here," Onell pointed out. "And after all that running around, I don't think that I could eat another bite."

"Me neither," Talli agreed.

"Oh," Andros replied, recalling the huge plate of food that he had scarfed down not thirty minutes ago. "Me too, I guess."

"Daddy, what's the matter?" Talli asked again, knowing that this time he would not be able to change the subject again so easily.

Andros lowered his eyes, knowing that both Talli and Onell would eventually have to know what was going on, but he did not want to be the one to explain it. Explaining Dark Specter's attack on KO-35 had been difficult enough to explain to his little sister who only asked a simple 'why' when looking around at the chaos around her. But it was a hard 'why' to answer, Andros had found out that day and it was not any easier now.

He opened his mouth, not sure how to begin. But just as he did, he turned around, seeing someone enter the simulation from the corner of his eye.

"Aeden," Andros said with a sigh of relief.

"Hey," Aeden replied, biting his bottom lip nervously as he put his hands into his jacket pockets. "Can we talk for a minute? It's kind of important."

Andros glanced back at Talli and Onell briefly. "I'm kind of in the middle of something," he said. "Can it wait?"

"It can, but I don't think it should," he replied. "Because there's no use in explaining to them what's going on if we don't have a solution to it. Unless you have a plan…"

"I don't," Andros said shortly. "I came here to spend time with my family and all everyone wants to talk about is this. We can't do anything about it until we get there, so why is everyone so nervous? We're the Power Rangers; you really think we'll lose this?"

"We've lost before, or don't you remember?" Aeden shot back with a frown. "Look, Andros. If you don't want to talk about this with them around, then that's fine because what I have to say isn't pretty. But I really need to talk to you."

"Well, I don't want to talk," Andros said, turning away from him.

"Those weren't the options," Aeden said firmly, trying to keep his temper under control. "Your choices are either to hear what I have to say _with_ them here or _without_ them here. Pick one because I'm going to say what I came to whether they're around to hear it or not."

Andros turned back and glared at Aeden for a moment, finally seeing Onell lead Talli away from them without a word. Talli watched the brothers stare each other down as she was pulled away, eventually turning around to chase after a simulated butterfly with Onell.

"Are you even _thinking_ of a plan?" Aeden asked him.

"Not really," Andros answered honestly, noticeably frustrated with the question. "Have _you_ been thinking of one?"

"Yeah, I have actually," he replied. "That's why I wanted to talk to you."

"Either way, it involves a sacrifice on our end," Andros said. "And we can't let Astronema get the Demon Sword of Kurakk. We don't even know how she's going to try to use it."

"We can't sacrifice our people for a weapon that we can get back later," Aeden growled.

"The last time we 'got it back later,' we paid a pretty big price," Andros said back. "Or don't _you_ remember me almost bleeding to death on the ground?"

"One death versus hundreds," Aeden said, pretending to think it over for a second. "What do you think the Rebels will choose?"

Andros narrowed his eyes at him. "What do _you_ choose?" he asked, folding his arms.

"It isn't up to me," Aeden answered, lowering his eyes.

"You want me to choose to die?" Andros asked softly. "Is that what our options are?"

"Haven't those always been our options?" Aeden asked sadly. "We sacrifice for _them_, Andros, not the other way around."

"I know that," he replied. "But she could be bluffing."

"With Darkonda already there and Velocifighters surrounding the planet?" Aeden asked. "If the A.D.A. Galactic Force thought to contact us, then I doubt that she's bluffing. She wants that sword. She wouldn't waste our time. Besides, she's already made it clear that she's serious. Now, we have less than an hour left and Astronema knows that the only way that we'll save our people is to give up the sword. We don't have any choice."

"Do the others feel the same way?" Andros asked.

"They wanted me to talk to you," Aeden began as Andros shook his head in disgust and started walking away from him again. "They don't want to give up the sword any more than you do. Neither do I. But we can't hedge our bets on her not following through on this, Andros. Even if she's bluffing, you know better than anyone how unpredictable Darkonda can be. If he's in the right mood, he'll destroy the colony regardless of his orders. We can't afford to do the wrong thing… You would honestly sacrifice hundreds of innocent lives just to hold onto a sword?"

"We don't know that he hasn't already killed everyone," Andros shouted, glancing back to see Talli staring back at him from a ways off. He turned back to Aeden and sighed again.

"Darkonda wouldn't bother killing everyone if none of us were around to watch," Aeden pointed out quietly, watching as Talli began playing with the butterfly again. "Look, Astronema's already said about a hundred times to your face that she doesn't want you dead. So, your death isn't in the plan and we can't let anyone else's death be part of her plan. Just let her have the sword."

"My death wasn't planned, but I died," he replied. "You know, you're my brother, Aeden. You're supposed to know me better than anyone. Better than Zhane, Onell, Talli, even Ashley… But in the two years that we've been apart, our bond must really be gone if you think that I'd sacrifice anyone for any reason."

"I _do_ know you better than anyone," he said after a second, lowering his voice to a near whisper and stepping closer to him. "I know you so well that I'll drop the act and come clean –The others are watching us from the bridge. I doubt if they can hear me right now so I'll make this quick. I'm only here because the others don't think that you have a plan. But knowing you like I do, you're not here spending time with Talli and Onell for no reason, looking at them like you won't be here tomorrow… You probably had a plan the moment Astronema gave us the ultimatum and, because you know that she won't kill you, your plan probably doesn't involve any of us. You want us to believe that we're going to save the Rebels so that we'll be looking the other way when you go off on your own to do something dangerous."

Andros lowered his eyes and said nothing, glancing back at Talli, who had begun playing with Onell again as Onell watched her brothers carefully out the corners of her eyes.

"You don't have to confirm or deny," Aeden went on. "I just wanted you to know how strong our bond actually is, even if _you_ don't realize it anymore."

"Hey," Andros called after him when he noticed Aeden turn to walk away.

"Your secret's safe with me, Andros," he said.

"I know," Andros replied. "I was just wondering if you had time to talk later on… We really haven't made time to do that."

Aeden turned back to face him. "_We're_ okay, Andros," he assured his brother with a smile. "Just promise me that you'll come back in one piece."

"I'm not going anywhere," Andros replied with a shrug, sitting down at a nearby tree.

Aeden turned to leave again. "Sometimes, I wish that I didn't know you so well," he said, shaking his head as he walked out of the simulated field. "But we'll have that talk whenever you get back…"

Talli slowly made her way back to Andros, sitting on his lap and opening her hands to reveal to him the yellow butterfly that she had caught at least three times since Aeden had arrived.

"You're not going to tell me what's wrong, are you?" she asked softly as the butterfly fluttered away.

"We have to give Astronema the sword," Andros said after a short pause, waiting for Onell to make it back to them. They both deserved to know what was going on. These were their people too, after all. "She's threatening to attack the Rebels if we don't. Right now, she's following us because she knows that we can get to her quicker than we can get to them."

"It could be a trick," Onell said. "Besides, I thought that no one knew where we were."

"I think that when we went to get you two, she had the Megaship followed," Andros said as she leaned her back against him and sighed. "That may have been her plan all along… She wanted us to think that she was after Talli so that she could find the Rebels. And we fell for it."

"You're going to fix everything, aren't you?" Talli asked somewhat sadly.

"I think I'm the only one who can," he said, understanding the deeper meaning behind her words. She knew that it meant that he would be leaving again. "And when I get ready to leave, I'm going to need you to do something for me. Do you think you'll be able to handle that?"

Tallli nodded, turning to look at him. "Is it a secret mission?" she whispered.

"Yes," Andros whispered back. "And the first thing that I need you to do is go to my room and wait for me. I have to talk to Onell before I do anything else."

"Stop simulation, DECA," she said, getting up from his lap and hurrying away from the Simudeck.

In seconds, the simulation of green grass and blue skies were gone and so was Talli. But not unexpectedly, when Andros stood up again, he found Onell standing in the middle of the room, staring daggers into him as she made her way over to him.

"There isn't any other way," he explained when a tear rolled down her cheek. "All I need you to do is stay with Talli. I have about twenty minutes left, so if you stay with her and away from the rangers, then you shouldn't have to worry about lying to them about where I am. Just keep an eye on Talli while I'm gone."

"That's what's actually happening, isn't it?" Onell asked sadly. "You'll be gone."

"Onell…"

"You're not talking like you're coming back, Andros," she said, raising her voice a little. "You might be able to convince Talli, but I know better. I know what you sound like when you're planning to leave us."

Andros pulled her into a hug, holding her to him tightly as she fought back more tears. He remembered the last time that he had left Onell behind while he went on a long mission, immediately recalling her tears that day and how fearful she had been that he would not return home. And he had not returned for two years. She had been brought to him on Earth, only to learn that he had died. Now that he was okay, she had felt for a while that he was about to leave again, a feeling that she could never get used to no matter how hard she tried.

"You're supposed to be the strong one, Onell," he said when she began to sob quietly. "I'm sure that I'll be back soon."

"Stop lying to me," she said, pulling back from him and shaking her head. "You already know that you're not coming back. All I want to know is how you know that you won't be back."

Andros sighed. "The prophecy," he answered, moving his hand back from her when she shook her head at his offer to wipe her tears away. "I think I know what it means now… The oracle told me that it would start after my death and it has. If I don't do this, then the destruction of many worlds that the prophecy mentions will begin… As long as the sword is with us, innocent lives are in real danger. I have no choice… But I really _do_ think that I'll be back."

"How will you take the sword to her?" she asked, finally wiping her tears away. "I thought that it would drain your energy if you held it too long. None of us have even been able to get close to it anymore."

"That's because Darkonda used it and gave it more power," he explained. "But as long as I'm morphed, I should be okay. I may not be as strong as you remember, but I'm still strong."

"Yeah," she agreed, looking into his eyes for any other information that he might be keeping from her. "I know… What are you going to tell Talli when you get to your room?"

"I don't even know right now," he admitted, shaking his head. "And I don't have a lot of time to think of anything good. I'll tell her… something."

Onell watched Andros walk to the doorway, turning away from him as tears began to cloud her eyes again. "Just don't lie to her," she said softly.

"I promise," he assured her just as softly. "I won't lie."

_0_0_0_0_

"DECA," Zhane called out, his voice cutting through Ashley's thoughts. "How far are we from the Enerba Galaxy?"

"The Enerba Galaxy is approximately one hour and two minutes from our current coordinates," DECA informed him.

"We really aren't going to make it," Zhane said to himself, receiving a sympathetic pat on the arm from Lyell as he shook his head sadly.

Ashley looked down at the screen in front of her and sighed, wishing that she had instead followed Andros to the Simudeck. But she had let him go alone, knowing that he needed to spend time with his family since the rangers would probably leave them with the Rebels after moving everyone to a safe location. She turned to the doorway, wondering if he would even bother returning to the bridge in the next few minutes. Their time was almost up and not even Aeden had returned after supposedly talking to him. They needed an answer for Astronema though and they needed it now.

Ashley sighed again, turning back to her screen, knowing that there was nothing that the information on it could tell her that she did not already know. They were all too far from the Rebels to help them and Astronema would be contacting the rangers soon to get their answer –attack on the Rebels or give her the Demon Sword of Kurakk. And the rangers did not appear to have much of a choice in the matter.

"Ashley," she heard softly in her head, making her look around the bridge. When no one looked up, she looked back down at her screen. It had sounded like Andros' voice, though it was somewhat pained.

"Ashley," she heard again, able to hear him more clearly now. "I'm sorry…I love you… Goodbye."

"Goodbye?" Ashley wondered aloud softly, panicking a little at the thought of him leaving her. "Where are you?"

"Ash, who're you talking to?" Cassie asked her, looking at her friend with concern.

Ashley turned to Cassie with tears in her eyes. "Andros," she replied. "I have a really bad feeling… I think he's gone."

"What do you mean, 'gone'?" Cassie asked, sitting down beside her.

"He said that he was sorry," Ashley explained, swallowing the lump in her throat that threatened to bring tears with it. "Then, he just said 'goodbye'."

"Incoming transmission," DECA announced suddenly. "Opening communications now."

"Well done, rangers," Astronema said with a smile as her face appeared on the screen. "Your sacrifice will not go unrewarded. Darkonda has been ordered to return to the Dark Fortress. Your defenseless Rebels are safe now."

The rangers all exchanged looks of confusion.

"What are you talking about?" T.J. asked. "What sacrifice?"

Astronema stared at them for a moment, smiling wider when she understood. "You really don't know?" she asked. "Then, I won't spoil the surprise for you… I'll see you all _very_ soon."

The screen went blank and the rangers stood motionless, trying to make sense of what she said.

"That was weird," Cassie said after a while.

"Yeah, what sacrifice?" Carlos wondered aloud. "We didn't give her anything… did we?"

Just then, Aeden came walked in, reluctantly being pushed toward the rangers by a very frustrated Rae. Or so, they assumed she must have been Rae, since they had not seen her more than once since they brought her back with them from the Enerba Galaxy. But she had the same dark brown hair and dark eyes as the woman Zhane had described to them and she was with Aeden, so she must have been Rae.

"Tell them," she ordered him, holding onto his arm as though he were a disobedient child

Aeden glanced at the others and then behind him at Rae. But he said nothing, only shrugging when he turned back to them and looking down at his feet.

"Aeden, you tell them what you told me," Rae said, pausing for a response before releasing his arm. As soon as he shook his head, she took a handful of his hair in her hands and pulled it just hard enough to make him look up at the rangers, who stood waiting.

"Rae," he whined, trying to use his hands to pry hers away from his hair.

"Tell them, Aeden," she said sweetly, tightening her hands and gathering more hair into her fist.

"Okay, okay… fine," Aeden agreed, relaxing as she released him and smoothed down his hair where her hands had been. "Andros is gone."

"Where did he go?" Ashley asked quickly.

"The Dark Fortress I'd bet," Aeden replied. "The Demon Sword of Kurakk is gone too. I checked a minute ago."

"He went off by himself?" T.J. asked. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

"Why would he do that?" Carlos asked. "If he had told us, we could have at least backed him up or something."

"He figured that we would try to stop him," Aeden answered. "At least, I _think_ that's what he thought."

"Well, why didn't you?" Zhane asked angrily, grabbing up Aeden by his shirt. "You're his brother and you let him go to the Dark Fortress on his own?"

"You really think that I could have stopped him?"

The question was met with silence and Aeden glanced around at their faces, already aware of the answer as Zhane released him. Andros was too stubborn to listen to reason most of the time, especially when lives were in danger.

"Okay, I'll say it first," Carlos said after their silence had continued for a minute or so. "The Demon Sword of Kurakk possesses people and takes their energy… If Andros took the sword, he might be –"

"He's still alive, you guys," Aeden said.

"I was actually thinking more along the lines of the sword possessing him," Carlos replied. "I can't be the only one thinking it right now."

"He's right," Ashley said, sitting down on the edge of a console with a sigh. "And it might explain why Andros told me 'goodbye' not too long ago."

"When did he tell you that?" Zhane asked.

"Just before Astronema thanked us for our 'sacrifice'," Ashley answered with tears stinging her eyes again. "He told me that he was sorry and then he said goodbye to me… I still feel that he's alive too, but I don't feel him as strongly as I did a few minutes ago either."

"Well, what are we supposed to do?" Cassie asked. "Do we get him back or head toward the Rebels?"

"DECA, where's the Dark Fortress right now?" Zhane asked.

"The Dark Fortress is currently headed toward the Enerba Galaxy," DECA replied.

"Can you tell if Andros is onboard?" Ashley asked, not sure that it would be better for him to be on Astronema's ship or not.

"The Red Astromorpher is not detected on the Dark Fortress," DECA informed them. "I cannot pinpoint Andros' life energy while traveling at Hyper Rush Velocity."

"We'll keep moving toward the Rebels," Zhane decided. "We'll just have to trust that Andros will be able to take care of himself until after we move them to another secure location."

"Will we be able to do that with the Dark Fortress following us?" T.J. asked.

Zhane nodded. "Once we help them pack up and make sure that Talli and Onell will be okay with the Rebels again, we'll keep Astronema from following them to their new planet. If we don't hear from Andros by then…"

"We will," Ashley said firmly, trying to push the negative thoughts out of her mind. "I'm sure that he'll be back by then."


	43. Chapter 43

Ch 43

It would be two hours in exactly one minute.

In that time, the rangers had entered the Enerba Galaxy, still followed closely by the Dark Fortress. The Rebels had already determined that their best bet of avoiding another attack would be to leave the planet that they had called their home for the past year. So, by the time the rangers arrived to aid them, many of the Rebels were already in the process of preparing the few shuttles they had available to leave the Enerba Galaxy. And within those two hours, almost all of the Rebels had boarded the shuttles and were preparing for liftoff, waiting only for the rangers' signal.

And within those same two hours, no one had heard anything from Andros. But somehow, the rangers pressed on, trying in the moment to forget that he was gone, only focusing on getting the Rebels safely away from Astronema and Darkonda. Everyone except Ashley was onboard the Astro Megaship, watching the main viewing screen and sitting at their stations, ready to give them the signal to go. But they could do nothing until Zhane gave to okay and he was currently in the engine room, ignoring DECA's announcements about the rangers waiting to hear from him as he repeated his sister's words.

"What do you mean, you're going too?" Zhane asked.

Lyell smiled at him and sighed. "Playing ranger consultant isn't as glamorous as I thought it might be," she said. "Besides, the A.D.A. Galactic Force will contact you soon to find out where the Rebels are going to be and you won't even know. If I go with them, you'll have someone on the inside with a working communicator who can contact you quickly in case they need your help again."

"You do plenty around the ship, Lyell," Zhane argued. "And we told you that if you want to be a ranger again…"

"But I _don't_ want to be a ranger again," she interrupted. "I want to stay behind and help out. I can keep an eye on Onell and Talli and I could help the Rebels build up their defenses again."

Zhane stared at her a moment. "You've already talked to someone about this, haven't you?" he asked.

"They wanted you or Andros to stay behind with them," she said. "But I told them that since they wanted a highly intelligent fighter and that _I_ was the one who figured out where the Rebels were, not to mention all of the times I've kicked your butts, then you two would be kind of useless compared to me."

Zhane smiled. "Oh, yeah?" he challenged her, taking a stance and an imaginary swing at her.

"Maybe not useless," Lyell said, putting his arms down and hugging her brother with a grin. "I think 'hopeless' suits you guys better."

Zhane hugged her tightly. "I'll miss you," he said softly.

"With everything going on right now, you won't even realize I'm gone," she replied, wondering if he would ever let her go. "And this is for the best… I can actually do some good or at least make myself useful."

"I know," Zhane sighed, releasing her when he was certain that he would not cry. "Then, I guess you should join the others on the shuttle, right?"

Lyell nodded. "I should," she answered, taking a last look around the engine room before walking toward the doorway. "DECA, teleport me to the shuttle entrance…And I'll contact you when we get to where we're going, Zhane. I promise."

"You'd better," Zhane replied as she stood enveloped in light a moment before disappearing from the ship.

_0_0_0_0_

"It's okay, Onell," Ashley said reassuringly, putting a hand on the sniffling girl's shoulder.

Onell had been crying on and off for the past hour, after having told Ashley and the others what Andros had told her before leaving. But in spite of their reassuring words, she refused to believe that Andros' delayed return was not her fault. And just when Ashley thought that maybe Onell had begun to accept it, she would begin to cry again, leaving Ashley to find comforting words yet again. But nothing seemed to satiate her for very long.

Talli, on the other hand, seemed relatively fine, though she seemed intent on following Ashley's every step. And while Ashley did not mind, she had a feeling that Talli was following her for a reason, though the child would not reveal it, even as they stood waiting to join the Rebels onboard the shuttle.

"Onell, it isn't your fault," Ashley continued, wondering how many times she had said it to her now. "If Andros says that he'll be back, then we have to believe that he will."

"Then why did Astronema say 'sacrifice'?" Onell asked tearfully.

"She only meant the sword," she replied, trying to truly believe it in case Onell read her mind to be sure. "He'll come back… And when he does, we'll let you know."

Onell nodded, wiping the last of her tears away. "I still should have told you," she said softly. "I _wanted_ to tell you… When he comes back, tell him that I won't lie for him ever again."

"I'll tell him," Ashley said, though she knew as well as Onell that there was not much that Andros could ask her to do for him that she would not do.

"I guess we'd better go then," Onell said after a minute, reaching for Talli's hand. "The Rebels can't wait on us forever."

"Wait a minute," Talli said, pulling something out of her pocket and running up to Ashley with it. When Ashley crouched down to match her height, Talli held out her hand to her, revealing Andros' locket with a smile.

"Talli…" Ashley said, gently taking the locket from her.

"Daddy told me to give this to you," Talli said. "And he told me to tell you that he would be back soon and not to worry about him."

"I'll try," Ashley replied, though her eyes were already glossy with tears as Talli hugged her. "Thank you, Talli. Mei tes si-ela."

"We'll miss you too," Onell said, hugging Ashley when Talli finally let her go.

"Oh yeah, I forgot," Talli said suddenly, beckoning for Ashley to come closer again. "I was supposed to give you a secret message too… 'Ta ki mei di-ar'."

"'Watch me again'?" Ashley translated aloud. "Watch him do what?"

Talli shrugged. "He said that he couldn't tell me, but he said that you would figure it out."

"'Watch me again,'" Ashley repeated, trying to make sense of the words. "That's a pretty good secret message. I'll have to let you know what I find out."

"You guys ready to go?" a voice called from behind them.

"You're really coming with us, Lyell?" Onell asked happily.

"Can't leave you guys all by yourselves," Lyell replied. "Now, let's get on the shuttle. We can't keep the Rebels waiting for much longer… I told the others to give the signal for the Rebels to go as soon as you teleport back to the ship, Ashley. And when you see Andros, hit him for me, will you? Hit him really hard."

"I will," Ashley replied with a smile, waiting minutes after the three went into the shuttle before reaching for her morpher and teleporting onto the Astro Megaship's bridge.

The other rangers looked her way briefly before pressing several buttons in front of them. Only Zhane kept his eyes fixed on the main viewing screen, watching sadly as the shuttles took off and slowly made their way out of the planet's orbit.

"T.J.," Zhane began, still watching the shuttles begin to disappear into the distance. "Where's the Dark Fortress?"

"Stationary just a few hundred feet behind us," he reported after checking the information in front of him.

"Scans show that Darkonda is onboard the ship," Cassie said. "But there wouldn't have been enough room on the Dark Fortress for all those Velocifighters… Only half of them returned to the ship. The others aren't in the vicinity as far as we can tell."

"I'm doing a manual scan for the other Velocifighters now," Carlos said, staring into the small screen in front of him while he pressed several buttons just below it. "The Velocifighters are… on the face of the planet."

"What planet?" Zhane asked.

"This one," Carlos said, the confusion on his face mirrored on Zhane's. "The rest of the Velocifighters are here on Ebes."

"Why didn't I pick them up on my scan?" Cassie asked.

"You weren't scanning the planet itself," Carlos replied. "Besides, they're giving off a pretty weak signal. You _wouldn't_ have picked up on them using that particular scan."

"You think it might be a trap?" Ashley asked Zhane, walking closer to Carlos' station to peek at the scan herself.

"I don't know," Zhane answered. "Maybe."

"Well, it's not like we can go anywhere else right now as long as we're waiting for Andros," Aeden said, walking onto the bridge with a sigh. "Maybe we should go check it out. I kind of hope that there _are_ quantrons waiting for us… I could afford to blow off some steam right about now."

_0_0_0_0_

Zhane, Aeden and Ashley teleported down to the site where the Velocifighters lay half-destroyed. as the rangers explored the dry, deserted area, they found no signs of quantrons or of any other monsters. There was just destruction and empty Velocifighters.

"Well, we've been down here for about fifteen minutes," Aeden said, taking another glance around them. "I guess there's no trap."

"But the Rebels don't have any weapons," Zhane pointed out, kicking over a piece of a nearby Velocifighter with his foot. "_Something_ did this."

"Maybe it was Darkonda," Ashley replied. "I doubt that he was happy when Astronema canceled his attack on the planet."

"It doesn't seem like his style," Zhane said. "If he still follows Astronema's orders and she has the Demon Sword of Kurakk, then he won't get on her bad side if he wants to stay anywhere near the weapon. I don't think he did this."

"You're right, rangers," Ecliptor's voice bellowed from several feet behind them. "And we have something else that we think you'll be interested in seeing… Bring him, Darkonda."

Almost immediately, Darkonda appeared with thirty quantrons, only six of them holding onto a struggling, demorphed Andros. But in spite of his efforts, he was unable to release himself from them and the Red Ranger only continued to struggle as Darkonda held onto him as well.

"Andros," Ashley said to herself happily, held back only by the frown on Aeden's face.

"Something's wrong," Aeden said softly, staring at his brother from afar. "I can't get into his head… and he isn't trying to get into mine."

"Not mine either," Zhane replied.

"Maybe they did something to him," Ashley said, starting toward Andros. "But he's right there and he's alive… We should be helping him."

"Ash, wait," Zhane called after her, stopping her in her tracks. "We came down here looking for a trap… we just might get one."

"It's Andros," Ashley said softly, turning back to look at him. "We can't just leave him here."

"Then, we can at least get some backup," Aeden said, bringing his morpher to his face. "Guys, Ecliptor and Darkonda have Andros down here. We're going to need your help."

"Let's rocket!" Ashley called out, not even looking back at them to see if they were prepared to follow her. As soon as she was morphed, she took off toward the quantrons, stopped by a blast from Ecliptor that hit just in front of her. She called for her Star Slinger with nothing more than a gesture and fired back at him, releasing large spheres of energy from it, running toward Andros the whole time as Ecliptor finally went down.

Darkonda released his hold on Andros and stepped in front of him, laughing at the Yellow Astroranger as she stopped just in front of him.

"So we meet again, Yellow Ranger," he growled. "And once again, you're outmatched."

"I kind of recall us knocking you down last time," she replied. "And you had the Demon Sword of Kurakk then. Sorry if I'm not frightened enough for you right now."

"That's quite all right," he said, beginning to laugh. "To be honest, I've been meaning to have a little rematch with you ever since that day and I –"

"Darkonda," Ecliptor interrupted. "Focus. This isn't why we're here."

Darkonda looked back to Ecliptor and growled in frustration. He had almost forgotten that he was stuck following orders again. But without warning, he sent out a blast from his eyes at the Yellow Ranger, which she dodged easily enough. But it did exactly what he meant for it to do: it hit the Black Ranger behind her.

"You okay, Carlos?" Ashley called, aiming her Star Slinger at Darkonda. But the monster stood just behind Andros and Ashley lowered her weapon.

Carlos got back onto his feet and ran to Ashley. "I'm fine," he said, turning back to see the other rangers join them.

"If you guys distract Darkonda and Ecliptor long enough, I can get past the quantrons by myself," Ashley said. "As soon as he's free from them, we'll teleport back to the ship."

"I'll help you," Aeden said, not surprised to see Ashley shaking her head. "I'm not leaving you to fight all those quantrons by yourself. If Andros has been weakened in any way, then he's going to need help getting away from them. You can't help him get away if you're fighting quantrons."

"Right," Ashley replied.

"Then, let's go," Zhane said with a sigh. "Besides, I still have to pay Darkonda back for what he did to Andros last time."

As the rangers charged at the two monsters, they thought at one point that they heard Ecliptor and Darkonda laugh in amusement. And with every strike that the rangers landed, they felt that they were heading deeper and deeper into a trap, but it was too late to get out of it now. Andros needed their help and fighting was the only thing they could do to accomplish that.

Ashley and Aeden approached the quantrons, but the footsoldiers seemed reluctant to fight, only grasping Andros' arms tighter. But after a few strikes from Aeden's Astroblaster, they were more than ready to fight back and they released Andros one by one.

Ashley made her way through the fighting quantrons and reached Andros, just as the last quantron let him go. Finally free, Andros stood on his own and looked around him, eventually letting his eyes rest on Ashley with a sigh. And Ashley would have smiled then, but she realized suddenly that he was not looking at her. He was looking her way, just not at her. His eyes were not focused on anything in particular and he eventually closed them, putting his hand behind his back. When he moved it back in front of him, Ashley suddenly understood why he was not looking at her. He was holding the Demon Sword of Kurakk… and if he could call it to him without saying a word, then it had likely taken him over.

"Andros," Ashley began, backing away from him. "Andros, you can fight this… Put down the sword."

But Andros said nothing in return, only gripping the weapon tighter in his hands and waiting until the sword began to glow red, spreading to the rest of his body until he was briefly enveloped in red light. At that moment, he made the sword disappear again and raised his arm, pressing the number three button on his Battlizer.

"Do you know what number three does?" Ashley asked over her shoulder to Aeden as he flipped over a few quantrons.

"On the Battlizer?" Aeden asked, still distracted by the quantrons. "Yeah, why?"

"Because Andros is about to use it," Ashley said, still backing away slowly. "On me, I think."

Aeden stopped fighting long enough to turn around and look at Andros. "Var Ta D'nig style," he said to himself when he noticed that Andros' eyes were closed. "Ashley, get away from him."

But before she could move, Andros morphed into Red Astroranger-type armor and sped her way, moving faster than she had ever seen him move before. His arms were moving to fast for her to counter him and yet somehow she was able to avoid all of his strikes. But she could not help but feel like it was only luck that kept her on her feet at the moment. And she did not dare try to strike him back, lest she leave herself with a wide enough opening for him to make contact with her and cause her luck to run out.

"Andros, stop," she said, avoiding a kick to her chest. "It's me, Ashley… Don't you recognize me?"

Again, he did not answer and only continued to try to attack her, seeming to not notice anything else around him at the moment. Ecliptor and Darkonda had stopped fighting the rangers, who had abandoned the monsters to try to help Ashley. Many of the quantrons still remained though and the rangers found themselves unable to get to her as easily as they had hoped.

"Ashley, hold on," Zhane called to her, just as he sent four quantrons flying back with his Silver Silverizer in blaster mode. But seven more ran up to him and he was no closer to helping her than before.

"I'm trying," Ashley called back, ducking a kick that would have probably broken her jaw.

"What do you think, Ecliptor?" Darkonda asked, suddenly behind Andros and facing the Yellow Ranger with a smile as she continued to defend herself. "He can take care of the rangers just fine on his own, can't he?"

"I believe you're right, Darkonda," Ecliptor answered with a nod. "Quantrons, retreat. Let the Red Ranger take care of his friends."

Immediately, the quantrons disappeared with Darkonda and Ecliptor, leaving the rangers alone. They watched Andros as he attacked Ashley, recalling that it was the same method of fighting that he had used before his true memories returned. And they watched carefully, trying to figure out if there was a way for them to help Ashley without hurting Andros. But they inevitably removed their blasters from their holsters, determining that if they could not reason with him, then they would have no choice but to hurt him just enough to give them time to restrain him on the Megaship.

But as Zhane feared, the rangers hesitated and Andros sped away from Ashley, striking the rangers without warning in a series of attacks that they could not even see. But whatever he had done made them hurt all over and they all fell to the ground together. And when they looked up, they found their blasters broken on the ground in front of them.

By the time they got to their feet again, Andros had started toward Ashley again, the red light that had enveloped him now only around his fists.

"Stellar Flare," Aeden called out, causing his own fists to glow with green fire as he raced toward his brother.

Andros quickly turned around struck at the Green Astroranger, grabbing each of Aeden's fists into his hands. The green fire almost immediately extinguished as it reemerged around Andros' hands and he pushed at Aeden's chest, knocking him to the ground with a barrage of close-range Stellar Flare blasts that were only stopped when Carlos blocked the attack with a spin of his Lunar Lance.

Andros stopped the blasts from his hands, activating a set of metallic wings on the back of his suit that lifted him slowly into the air. The rangers watched how high into the air he seemed to rise, knowing when he stopped moving that he was not retreating. And he was far enough away for them not to notice the two large missiles heading their way until it was almost too late.

The missiles swerved and hit the ground by their feet with two loud blasts and by the time the rangers looked back up to find Andros, he was gone from the sky and attacking them fiercely with the Demon Sword of Kurakk. And he moved so fast that by the time they were able to really see him, he had already moved on to the next ranger to attack. Within seconds, each of the rangers were on the ground, barely able to move as Andros continued to send powerful blasts from the sword. And all the Astrorangers could do was stay close to the ground, in pain and wondering how much longer they would be able to last against him. Even Darkonda had not attacked them with such ferociousness.

Andros approached the rangers slowly now, the sword just in front of Ashley's chest as he grabbed her up with his other hand. But that was as far as he went before he suddenly went down, hit by what sounded like laser blasts. However, they saw nothing when they were able to get back to their feet except Andros looking for the source of the attack and finding the same nothing.

"Are you all right, Ashley?" a voice called out just before Andros was taken down again by the same blasts.

"Phantom Ranger?" Ashley asked, trying to get an idea of where he might be.

"See if the others are okay," he replied. "I'll try to keep him back."

"Right," Ashley said, looking around her for the first time in a while and noticing that only she and Zhane were still on their feet. She ran over to T.J. and Cassie, who were both just barely conscious now. She lifted her morpher to her face. "DECA, teleport Cassie, T.J., and Aeden to the infirmary."

"Don't you dare teleport me, DECA," Aeden said weakly, getting back on his feet. "I'm fine."

Ashley ran over to him as T.J. and Cassie were teleported away.

"Aeden, you can't fight like this," she said, trying to pull him back.

"If I'm conscious, I can fight," he replied firmly, successfully able to free his arm from her. But he stopped suddenly with a sigh, looking straight ahead of him.

"Move, Esson," Aeden said.

"You're in no condition to fight," Phantom Ranger replied. "Not him or anyone else."

"Move, Esson," he said again.

"Fine," Phantom Ranger said, becoming visible suddenly and turning quickly to block a direct attack from Andros, the sword striking the light armor on his wrists. He leaned forward against the force that came from the Demon Sword of Kurakk, pushing Andros away from him. "He's all yours."

Aeden started toward Andros, not seeing Phantom Ranger's arm go out as he passed and so when he suddenly stopped in his tracks, he was confused by the dizziness that overcame him.

"I'm sorry," he heard Esson say just before falling to the ground.

"DECA, teleport Aeden to the ship," Ashley said, avoiding a blast from Andros' sword as she lifted her morpher to speak. And she was standing still just long enough for Andros to catch up to her, the sword raised to strike her just as before and the Phantom Ranger unable to strike Andros as long as he could see the blasts coming to use his Battlizer shield. But Andros just stood there, frozen in front of her, finally disappearing. Ashley could no longer feel his presence nearby anymore and she did not bother looking around for him, knowing that he was gone as she helped the rest of the rangers to their feet.

Andros was really gone.


	44. Chapter 44

Ch 44

"I'm right here," Aeden heard a soft voice saying in his ear as he struggled to open his eyes.

When they finally opened, he saw Rae standing over him with a smile, holding tightly onto his hand with tears in her eyes.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"You asked me to stay here with you, remember?" she said. "You were calling for me just now."

"Where am I?" Aeden asked, not feeling strong enough to lift or turn his head to see for himself.

"The infirmary," she answered.

"The infirmary?" Aeden repeated, recalling the events of the day –Andros leaving the ship, the swarm of quantrons, being attacked by Andros, and Phantom Ranger…

"Esson," he said with a frown.

"Esson saved your life," Rae said, briefly looking over at the Phantom Ranger with gratitude. "You weren't in any shape to fight, so he found a way to stop you. It was a pretty strong sedative, but you're alive. I'm glad that he used it… and you should be too."

"I wanted to fight," he said softly. "I could've stopped Andros."

"You would've killed him," Rae concluded simply. "And you would have felt that you had no other choice. But now there's time to think about things. You guys need a plan that doesn't involve killing him."

"The sword might do that anyway," Zhane pointed out, his eyes lowered to the floor.

"You guys aren't stupid," Rae said, turning to look at them. "You'll come up with a plan and we'll get him back. You didn't give up on him before when he attacked everyone because you knew that he wasn't in control. Well, he's not in control now and he needs your help again."

"We weren't able to help him before," T.J. said defeatedly, massaging the stiff area on his left shoulder. "He had to put poison in his system just to get his memories back temporarily and Sadi made it permanent. We didn't do anything except doubt him."

"Would you guys be talking this way if Ashley were in here?" she asked. "Or if Onell and Talli were here? Because they're going to need to believe more than anyone else that Andros will come back from this."

No one was able to answer her, their eyes lowered in sadness.

"We can't win this," Zhane said after a moment.

"It's not over yet," Rae replied firmly. "You all escaped with your lives, so it's not over. You just have to think of something."

"They have Andros," Cassie sighed. "It's already over."

"How can we win without hurting him?" Carlos asked. "Either he's going to kill us, or we'll end up killing him."

"Like Rae said," Aeden said as he began to sit up on his own. "We just need to think of something… And we have time now to do that. We can't sit in here feeling sorry for ourselves. We're going to need a plan before we have to fight him again –one that doesn't end with anyone getting hurt."

"Again, we don't know how long we have before the sword destroys him anyway," Zhane said. "He used it for a long time."

"But was it pulling power from _him_ or was he pulling power from _it_?" Cassie asked.

"It's an exchange," Aeden answered. "He gives up some of his power and eventually his life force in exchange for its power. Like Zhane said, there's no telling how long he really has."

"Do we at least know why he disappeared like that?" Carlos asked.

"No," Zhane said. "But it's a good thing that he did. We wouldn't have been able to hold up much longer."

"You guys have fought with him for years," T.J. said, thinking a moment. "Don't you know whether or not he has any weaknesses?"

"He wasn't fighting with the Var Ta D'nig style back then," Zhane replied. "And there really aren't any weaknesses associated with that kind of fighting. The moves are always fast and precise. The only opening you'll be able to find is if he switches from that style to his own style. But I didn't see him do that this time."

"But it's a weakness," Aeden said with a sigh. "And it's better than nothing. With any luck, he won't attack us again today. He's still human and he'll need to rest just like us… We're too distracted right now. We can't think of much else except that Andros isn't here and won't be for a while. But we _will_ get him back. So let's just get some sleep and start working on a plan tomorrow."

The rangers nodded and left the infirmary sadly, except Zhane who lingered by the doorway when he noticed the way Aeden was staring at him.

"What is it?" Zhane asked with a sigh.

"You can't be like this," Aeden told him, shaking his head and giving him a knowing look. "We need you stronger than this, Zhane. If you give up, they'll give up too."

Zhane shrugged. "You and I have been waiting for this for a long time now," he said, growing angrier as he continued. "The prophecy wasn't going to be wrong. Andros was always going to be the Red Ranger that caused the destruction of many worlds. We knew that… and we're not even prepared for it."

"How were we supposed to do that?" Aeden asked. "Should we have kept him from becoming a ranger? Or should we have let Astronema destroy the Rebels?"

"No," Zhane exclaimed. "I mean, I don't know. Maybe he shouldn't have been a ranger. But there had to be something else that we could've done. This shouldn't have happened to him… I could've – I could've… I already lost him once, Aeden. I feel like I just got him back. He was back to being like he was before all this bad stuff happened to him. And he was happy for once. I mean, you saw him actually smiling and laughing. It's been so long since I've seen that. How can we get him back without hurting him?"

"We'll figure something out," he answered, trying to think of something on the spot. But nothing especially genius came to mind as angry tears began to fill Zhane's eyes.

"That's not enough, Aeden," Zhane nearly shouted. "Were you paying attention out there? We can't reach him. He's locked us out of his thoughts. He didn't even speak. At least when he attacked me before, he had that stupid creepy mantra that he would say every once in a while. Andros wasn't down there with us! Andros is gone! Can't you feel that? That's why Ashley isn't with us now. She already knows that, but she's trying to hold onto some kind of blind hope that he'll be back to normal in the morning even though she knows that he's gone."

"There's nothing wrong with that," Rae interjected. "You should want her to hold onto whatever hope that's left… When you guys told me that Aeden died, I accepted that. But there was still a part of me that hoped that it wasn't true. I held onto that part of me and the impossible happened. Why should she want to give up?"

"It's not the same," Zhane said, shaking his head and turning to walk away from them.

"Maybe not for you," Aeden called after him. "But I'll bet that it's the same for Ashley… and if you don't think so, maybe you check on her and find out."

_0_0_0_0_

Ashley sat on the bridge, distractedly chewing on a few strands of her hair as she tried to think.

"Watch me again," she said to herself softly. "Watch him do what?"

She had been sitting there for the past thirty minutes, trying desperately to get the last image she had of Andros out of her head. But every few minutes or so, it would play itself all over again and she would have to close her eyes to get the images out once more. But in between those moments, she would think of the message that Talli gave her from him, wondering if it might give her a clue as to what exactly was happening to Andros.

He knew that Ashley would figure it out, whatever his real message was. And whatever it was, he must not have wanted Talli to know. All he left for Ashley was that message and his locket, something that he had already sacrificed for Ashley at least once that she knew of. It all had to mean something.

Ashley gently stroked the outside of the locket with her thumb, having looked at it all over for any other clue and finding nothing. Finally she opened it, looking at the pictures inside of the two innocent children whose futures were written out for them before they were even born. She wondered how many times Andros had sat on the bridge, doing the exact same thing as he thought about that day –the day that she was taken from him. And he had watched the footage of it over and –

"Watch me again," Ashley said to herself once more, this time understanding what he meant as she closed the locket and reached down to remove the small disc from her jacket pocket. Biting her lip, she pressed a button on the console that opened a compartment and, after placing the disc onto the small tray that protruded, looked up at the viewing screen as she pressed the button to retract the disc tray.

The screen flashed briefly and Andros' face became visible on it.

"I knew you'd figure it out," he said softly, making Ashley smile. "It wasn't easy getting this disc away from you and it won't be easy getting it back to you either. I almost didn't find it at all. You hid it well… I guess I could've used a new one, but I don't want anyone else to find this before you do. I want to make sure that you're the first to hear what I have to say. And I figure you're done learning Karovan from this thing, so I don't guess you're going to be too upset about me recording over this."

Ashley shook her head in response, knowing that there was no way that he could really see her. But she was just so happy to see him as himself, helping to temporarily erase the image of him that she had seen on Ebes earlier.

"If you're watching this, then I did something really dangerous and really stupid," he continued, lowering his eyes. "It means that I'm not with you anymore… and the thought of being away from you already hurts. But I have to do this. I can't risk Astronema hurting the Rebels or anyone else because of me. I've been thinking about everything that's happened to me in the past couple of years and I realize what Astronema wants from me."

He paused a moment and swallowed nervously as he seemed to ponder it once more, but he went on.

"She wants me," he said. "Or rather, Dark Specter does. I remembered that when I was captured, before he sent me to Omni-8, he asked me to join him. Of course, I refused and ended up on Omni-8, where the Cromians altered my memories while they trained me to fight in a way meant only to kill. Dark Specter let me stay there for two years, knowing that I had given up on everything except survival. Then I happen to get rescued by my best friend who even told me that he found me by chance… It wasn't by chance, Zhane."

Ashley looked behind her, finding Zhane standing quietly by the doorway, staring ahead at the screen. With a sigh, he made his way over to Ashley and sat down in the chair next to her.

"Am I really that predictable?" Zhane asked, glancing over at Ashley.

"We both are apparently," she answered with a smile.

"I'm almost certain that Darkonda was sent to Omni-8 to keep an eye on my progress," Andros began again. "He probably had something to do with the defenses being lowered and the Cromians being incapacitated. They had been slaughtered shortly after falling into an extended sleep cycle. Then Darkonda lowered their force-field so that I could be found by you guys. That way they could really track my progress… And I've gotten everyone around me involved in this stupid prophecy when I already know what's going to happen. I'll become evil like it says and hurt everyone I care about."

Ashley shook her head gently, wishing that she could have talked to him before he had left.

"It would have happened eventually," Andros said. "I came back from Omni-8 lying to you guys about what I remembered, hating the Astroranger powers, and not even being willing to lead the team. I don't even know what I was thinking when I contacted Sadi. As soon as I did that, I involved Talli in this and I'll never forgive myself if I hurt her in some way. That's why we're still headed to the Rebels. You guys can get them to safety once I surrender to Astronema and leave Talli and Onell with them. That way, I won't be able to locate them."

Andros sighed heavily. "I'm sorry that I wasn't able to say goodbye to you guys," he said. "Even now, I'm keeping your thoughts out of my head and trying to keep mine from yours because as soon as you pick up on what I'm about to do, I know you'll try to stop me. But I can't let anyone get hurt because of me, not when all I have to do is leave this ship for another… If they're as predictable as you guys, then I know they won't kill me. And taking the sword, they probably won't have to do much to me to get me on their side once the sword overpowers me… But I'm sure that the first thing I'll do is come after you and I'm sorry."

He stopped again, blinking back his tears briefly before giving in and allowing them to fall as he closed his eyes and cleared his throat.

"I'm sorry," he said again. "I'm sorry that I couldn't do this face to face. But I want you to know that I love you guys and whatever you have to do to keep yourselves alive… do it, even if it means… Don't worry about me. Just take care of my family for me… I've only got a few minutes left. So, Ashley… Ashley, I'm sorry… I love you… Goodbye."

The screen went dark and she and Zhane stared helplessly ahead of them, not sure what to say or sure if anything _could_ be said. He had said it just as she had heard it in her head earlier that day and it hurt just as much as it had when she heard it the first time, she realized as tears filled her eyes. She looked over at Zhane, who sat frowning next to her, though she saw several tears falling down his face. She reached out and rested a hand on his, knowing that it would only result in releasing her own tears as well as more of his. And only a brief moment passed before he had his arms around her in a tight hug as he let go of his anger and gave into his sadness.

"How could he do this to us?" Zhane whispered after a minute. "We just got him back."

"We'll get him back," Ashley assured him, finding comfort in her own words. "We got him back before and we'll get him back again. I just know it."

_0_0_0_0_

"What did you do to him?" Astronema asked, walking onto the bridge of the Dark Fortress and frowning at the spatters of blood that sparsely covered the floor where the demorphed Red Ranger now stood. She looked up at her brother, not daring to get too close, lest he attack her again.

When he had surrendered, he had already been empowered enough by the Demon Sword of Kurakk to satisfy Astronema's desire to see him turn on his friends. But the sword's energy had made him wild, practically feral, leaving him without speech or alliance. So, she had tested him, sending him to where his precious Rebels were, hoping to be able to see him in action. But they had already hidden themselves again and she had instead ordered him to attack a nearby Velocifighter.

It was after that moment that she realized that while she had some control over him, it was not complete. Instead of simply destroying one Velocifighter, he quickly brought down several of them in spite of her orders for him to stop. Even after receiving orders to destroy the rangers on sight, he perhaps after seeing no rangers in front of him at the moment instead lunged at her first, almost knocking her down. Yet Ecliptor had stopped him, ordering him to be restrained until his fight with the rangers.

But even then, he had gone a little too far, coming closer to destroying the rangers than she had imagined. She was even somewhat glad that Phantom Ranger had interfered. She still needed the rangers alive, after all. Well, Dark Specter did. As long as they had the Red Ranger, they could persuade the team to do whatever Dark Specter wanted. But when Astronema had teleported him back to the ship, he had tried to attack her again. So when she entered the room now, stood in front of the Red Ranger, and was not attacked, she wondered what Darkonda could have possibly done to him.

"I fixed him, as you requested, Princess Astronema," Darkonda answered. "It was easier than I thought. As it turns out, the energy from the Demon Sword of Kurakk is beginning to drain from him. He'd have returned to normal after an hour or so. He had already begun to do so, that is, until I made some adjustments to him. I was just about to reactivate him."

"Reactivate?" Astronema wondered aloud. "What kind of adjustments did you make?"

Laughing, Darkonda turned the Red Ranger toward his sister, taking pleasure in the brief expression of concern on her face. Once the idea had come to him, Darkonda could not resist trying it out. So, perhaps he had exaggerated just a little about the Red Ranger beginning to return to normal. But Astronema did not have to know that and he knew that she would not read him as she was too preoccupied with the sloppily stitched scar over her brother's eye.

"I learned more about what the Cromians did to him," Darkonda began. "There was something placed into his brain to make him attack when triggered by a particular memory. But as you know, Sadi allowed him to remember everything, causing him to stop attacking his friends. All I had to do was play with it a little so that all that training won't go to waste."

"He used the Var Ta D'nig style when he attacked the others," she pointed out. "The training won't be wasted."

"But he used it only under the influence of the sword," Darkonda explained. "Once its power faded from him, so would the automatic descent into that fighting style. I've fixed it so that he can access that style anytime he wants _and_ I've given him free will."

"Do we want that?" Ecliptor asked, walking up to them and frowning at Darkonda.

"How can he torture his friends without his memories?" Darkonda asked with a laugh. "Right now, he's a monster –pure evil. But think about how much more he could make the rangers suffer if he could speak. He'll still be on our side… If Dark Specter doesn't want the rangers dead yet then you can at least torture them a little. Looking at him already hurts them, but they'll get past it, seeing him for the monster he's become after a few fights. They'll give up trying to save him."

"But if he can communicate with them, then they might think they can save him," Astronema finished, smiling as the Darkonda took a thin metal bar and brought it to the half-opened scar on Andros' head.

There was a brief shock and Andros reacted, crying out and bringing his hand to his head, covering the scar tightly as it began to bleed again. He turned his back to them, seemingly awaiting the end of his pain as he stood holding his wound. But he did not speak and Astronema frowned.

"I thought you fixed him," she said angrily, glaring at Darkonda.

"I did," Darkonda argued. "He's probably –"

He was stopped suddenly by Astronema's raised hand and he listened quietly as well, feeling a familiar energy surrounding them.

"Dark Specter," Astronema said softly. "He's not ready to meet with Dark Specter yet."

"He should be," Darkonda replied, hesitantly stepping away from the Red Ranger as he followed Astronema and Ecliptor away from the bridge and into the main core room, the only place on the ship that Dark Specter seemed to prefer teleporting to.

The room shimmered a moment before Dark Specter finally appeared, still appearing massive in spite of the confined space he was in. Astronema, Ecliptor, and Darkonda bowed to him and Astronema stepped forward.

"I thought you had captured the Red Ranger," he growled at her.

"It's true, Dark Specter," she replied. "The Red Ranger is on our side. He's already used the Demon Sword of Kurakk on the other rangers. He would have destroyed them had I not ordered his restraint as you commanded."

"He had to be stopped, lest the Demon Sword of Kurakk destroy him," Dark Specter explained. "And he will be of great use to us. The effects of the sword should be fading now… I presume he still lives?"

"Yes, Dark Specter," Darkonda spoke up. "I hope you don't mind, I took the liberty of modifying him a bit. The training he received on Omni-8 will be retained, but I assure you that his allegiance will be much stronger to you."

"Then, why did you not bring him to greet his master?" Dark Specter asked. "His complete loyalty is required if my plans are not to be interrupted."

Astronema froze, glancing over at Darkonda who seemed less than worried about the Dark Specter's inquiry. It was Darkonda's fault that her brother was not ready to face Dark Specter yet, but he knew that it would be her taking the fall for it.

"I apologize, Dark Specter," she heard from behind her, making her turn around. "But I'm here now and at your command."

Andros bowed as he spoke, speaking as though he had been on their side all along. He seemed very natural in front of Dark Specter in spite of the smear of blood that had dried across his forehead. And he did not flinch, nor could she sense any fear in him. There was nothing in him that would have indicated that he did not belong there, nor was there any indication that he might be lying. He was truly on their side, Astronema realized, smiling and letting out a sigh of relief.

"You understand why you were chosen to join us?" Dark Specter asked him. "I was certain that it was you and not your other siblings that were meant to fight on our side the day Darkonda attacked you with the Demon Sword of Kurakk and you were able to use his own sword against him."

"But I failed," Andros said defeatedly.

"Against the Demon Sword of Kurakk," Dark Specter said. "You might've done as well with a child's plaything against that weapon. Of course, you failed. But the fact that you were able to use Darkonda's sword shows that you had the potential, even then, to be evil."

"I understand," Andros replied. "And I will not fail you, my lord."

"See that you don't," Dark Specter said, turning back to Astronema. "I trust that you will continue to train him well, Astronema. But remember: the rangers will remain alive for now."

"As you command," she said, looking over proudly at her brother as Dark Specter faded from view. "But I suppose there's no reason that we can't have a little fun with them. Of course, I'll leave that up to you, brother."

Andros looked down at himself, taking off his gray Astroranger uniform jacket and tossing it carelessly to the ground.

"Yes," Andros answered with a smile. "If I might make a suggestion, my queen?"

"Queen?" Astronema repeated thoughtfully. "Not accurate just yet, but I like it. What do you suggest?"

"There are only two attacks that the rangers won't be prepared for," he began. "And the first is psychological. Seeing me on the other side will stir them up enough, but it's not quite enough. Only a few of them will give us the reaction that I'm hoping for and I plan to pay them a visit later on."

"Let me know how it turns out," Astronema said, walking past him and out of the room.

Ecliptor looked from Astronema to the Red Ranger and sighed softly, following her out of the room without a word.

"Darkonda," Andros called after the monster just as he reached the doorway to leave.

Darkonda turned around in time to see the Red Ranger bring his hand down from the scar on his forehead and smiled.

"I wanted to thank you for orchestrating my little… attitude adjustment," Andros said, smiling back at the monster a little. "In time, I plan to pay you back for all you've done."

Darkonda laughed a little. "Believe me, Red Ranger," he began in a low voice, turning away from him as he continued. "I never do anything for free. The time for payment will come soon enough."

"I'd expect no less," Andros replied, watching Darkonda disappear from his view. "I'd expect no less."


	45. Chapter 45

Ch 45

Ashley let out a deep breath and looked at the clock again. Just as it had thirty seconds earlier when she had last looked, it read three o'clock. She wondered if Andros might be sleeping at the moment, knowing that good or evil, he was a human that had to go to sleep at some point. And that was the thought that kept her up now –_was_ Andros still human? The Demon Sword of Kurakk had brought out something in him that Ashley had never sensed in him before. There was a viciousness in him that was more monster-like than even Ecliptor or Darkonda.

After another minute of lying in bed, Ashley finally sat up. She was tired of lying there and was apparently not tired enough to go to sleep, which she had discovered soon after getting in bed. She reached under her pillow and pulled out Andros' locket, wondering now if she should go back to the bridge and re-watch the video that he had made for her. She had already watched it several times that evening, finding no clues left for her on it and instead only seeing Andros' sadness more clearly than before. She took one last look at the locket and draped it around her neck before getting up and walking out of her bedroom.

She stood just outside of her door, quickly scanning the hall to see if any of the others were awake. She made her way to Andros' room, surprised a little by the small gust of air that blew into her face when the door whooshed open. Ashley stepped inside, looking around at the seemingly bare walls and shaking her head to herself sadly. Other than the pictures of himself and Karone as children on the table by his bed, there was almost no trace of his presence anymore. His bed had been made and his room was almost spotless, seeming cold and sterile without him in it. Other than the pictures, there was nothing else –not a familiar scent left in the air or a strand of hair left on his pillow that indicated that Andros had ever been in the room.

Ashley sat down on his bed and sighed sadly. She knew that she was thinking too much and she truly wished that she had some control over it so that she could get some much needed rest. She reclined onto Andros' cold red sheets and closed her eyes, her hands traveling to the locket once more that had quickly warmed against her skin.

She tried desperately to shut off her mind, repeating quietly to herself that Andros was okay and that he would return to her at any moment. And when she said it aloud, it sounded more convincing than it did in her head and a sudden wave of calmness washed over her. Only then did she feel her body get heavy as her fingers loosened from around the locket. She embraced the silence around her, no longer even hearing the light whir of the ship's engines as she drifted off to sleep.

__0_0_0_0__

_Thump…thump…THUD!_

Ashley scrunched up her face into a frown as something continued to pound around her, but she kept her eyes closed. She had only been asleep for a moment.

_Thump…thump…THUD!_

What was that? Ashley squeezed her eyes even tighter. She heard none of the other rangers outside the room, so chances are that they were not awakened by the sounds. And based on the silence of DECA's alarms, Ashley could deduce that the ship was not under attack. But the vibrations of whatever made the noise shook the bed a little with each thump.

After another round of thumps, Ashley finally sat up in frustration, groaning with aggravation as she tossed aside the pillow that had lain over her eyes. Her eyes darted over quickly to it when she realized that it had not yet landed onto the floor, but instead seemed to be floating in mid air.

"Andros?" Ashley inquired quietly, hoping that she was not wrong as she turned to the door.

Sitting on his desk, nonchalantly kicking his feet back and forth lightly against it, sat Andros. He smiled amusedly, his eyes moving from the pillow that lowered slowly onto the floor and then to Ashley.

"That wasn't very nice," he said playfully. "Someone could get hurt with one of those things."

Ashley stared at him incredulously, finding it difficult to concentrate hard enough to read his thoughts. But the fact that she had to try so hard was enough of a clue that Andros still was not himself, that and the half-opened scar on his head that she could not turn away from. And so Ashley continued to sit silently on the bed, unsure of what to say or do.

_Thump…thump…THUD!_

Andros turned his head to the wall on his right, leaning to reach it with his hand and knocking twice on it. "People are trying to sleep," he said loudly, rolling his eyes and sitting up straight again to face Ashley. "Now, where were we?"

But Ashley remained quiet, instead focusing on trying to figure out his plan as well as come up with one of her own.

"A plan to do what, Ashley?" Andros asked her, cutting through her thoughts.

Finally, words came to her, though they came out much quieter than she had expected. "If you can still read me, then I suppose you should already know what kind of plan. But I can't read you, so tell me why you're here."

"To see you," he said with a shrug.

"You must think I'm stupid," Ashley replied, still trying to figure out what his real motive might be. She briefly looked down at herself, trying to determine if he could have done something to her while she had slept. After all, she had no idea how long he had been sitting there.

"Rest assured that I'm not here to hurt you, Ashley," he said, his mischievous eyes looking deeply into hers. "If I had wanted that, I wouldn't have waited until you woke up to do so."

"Then, why else would you come here?"

"I came back because I promised you that I would."

"No," Ashley said angrily. "_Andros_ said that he'd come back to us. You're not Andros… Andros would never attack us. He loves us."

"Maybe I wouldn't attack you," Andros agreed with a nod. "But I've attacked you all before at least twice, and dozens of times in Zhane's case… Don't get me wrong, Ashley. I still love you. I love the others too. You were my friends and you cared about me when I gave you every reason in the world to only hate me. And now… well, to answer your question as simply as possible, Ashley, I'm here now to help you forget about all of that love. I'm here so that you can feel free to embrace those feelings of hate that you've been pushing down since you met me. I intend to undo every good thing that's ever been associated with my name."

_Thump…thump…THUD!_

"What's that sound?" Ashley asked, turning her head to look at the wall that Andros had pounded on moments earlier. "What did you do to our friends?"

"Did you know that in order for any ship to function it needs at least five major things?" Andros asked in return. "Navigation, life support, propulsion, data, and power –all of them strongly linked and very necessary. Without just one of these, everything can go wrong in an instant…"

Ashley looked to the wall again, noticing that the thumping noise had become softer than before. She looked to Andros, who sat watching her from his spot on the desk and waiting for her to understand.

"You didn't…" Ashley said, shaking her head in disbelief as she hurried toward the door. She carefully watched Andros out the corner of her eye to see if he would bother trying to stop her. But he only sat, calmly watching her caution turn to panic as she stepped in front of the door to open it and found it unresponsive.

"DECA, open the door," Ashley ordered.

"Command not recognized," DECA responded. "Please enter a valid command."

"What did you do to DECA?" Ashley asked, turning sharply to Andros.

Andros shrugged innocently. "I hope you figure it out soon," he said. "Without DECA, you won't have the data needed to figure out what else could have been done to the Astro Megaship."

"Andros, please stop doing this," she pleaded. "I know that the Demon Sword of Kurakk –"

"Has completely worn off," Andros finished, looking somewhat frustrated with her as he slid off the desk and strolled toward her. When her back was at the door, he leaned in closer to her and whispered to her. "You're dealing with one hundred percent Andros and believe me when I tell you that you know nothing about me."

"I know you're a coward," Ashley said, not sure if she was being wise by provoking him. But instead, he seemed a little surprised, though he stepped even closer to her and planted his arms on either side of her.

"A coward?" he repeated, smirking a little. "How's that?"

"You shut off your mind from all of us," she replied, frowning as she saw nothing familiar in his eyes. "How can you possibly make us believe that you can beat us, when we don't even know for sure that _you_ really believe it? And DECA can be fixed in no time… You aren't the only one here who knows how her program works. So if this is the best you can do, you might want to rethink not using the Demon Sword of Kurakk anymore. It's certainly more evil than you are right now."

But Andros only continued to smirk. "This is nothing compared to what I'm capable of doing," he said. "And I look forward to showing you exactly what I can do very soon. You just fix this little problem first. Then you can talk to me about how sure you are that I can't beat you… See you around, Ash."

He lightly kissed her cheek and disappeared suddenly in a bright red light, leaving Ashley standing alone in his locked bedroom with no way to get out. She pressed the buttons on her morpher, hoping that she might be allowed a short distance teleport from the room to the corridor or someone else's room. But the dull beep from her morpher let her know that she would have to think of another plan.

Ashley stepped back from the door. There had to be another way out that did not involve DECA. After all, if DECA were to ever malfunction, like now, there would have to be a way to run the ship without her. And that included opening doors, Ashley decided, feeling along the cool walls of the room.

Within moments, her hand ran across a rough spot on the gray walls and, finding it not completely level with the rest of the wall, she pressed down it. Ashley smiled victoriously as a small panel opened, revealing several rows of buttons inside of it. Now all she had to do was figure out which one controlled the bedroom door. Pressing each one did not seem like the best idea, seeing as she did not know what any of them did. How would she choose the right one?

"Ashley?" she heard from the other side of the door.

"Zhane!" Ashley exclaimed, letting out a sigh of relief. "Something's wrong with DECA. I can't get out of here."

"I know," he called back to her. "Do you know where the emergency panel is for the room?"

"Yeah, but I don't know which button to press," she answered.

"It's the button furthest from the door, bottom row," Zhane replied, giving her a relieved smile when the door whooshed open a second later. But it quickly faded. "Are you all right?"

Ashley nodded. "I'm fine," she said. "Is everyone else okay?"

"No," he answered solemnly. "When DECA malfunctioned, it caused the rooms to be sealed and the life support system to go out on every deck in random rooms."

"Which rooms?" Ashley asked worriedly.

"On this deck, my room and Cassie's," he sighed. "I knew where the panel was so that I could get out before it affected me, but Esson and T.J. had to break down Cassie's door. She was unconscious by the time they got her out of there. But she seems to be breathing fine, so I'm sure she'll be okay. The guys took her to T.J.'s room for now until the conditions in her room stabilize."

"Why did it only affect your rooms?"

"I won't know until DECA's fixed," Zhane said with a shrug. "Carlos is checking on Aeden and Rae in the infirmary right now to see if anything up there was affected. I'm on my way to see if I can get DECA back online to see what caused her program to stop working properly."

"I already know the answer to that," Ashley said somewhat distantly as an image of Andros' cold eyes looking through her flashed in front of her for a second. "Andros did it… He was just here a little while ago."

"What do you mean, 'he was here'?"

"I went into his room and fell asleep. When I woke up, he was there. He said something about five things that a ship needs to function and one of them was life support. He didn't say directly that he did it, but no one else would've been able to do this kind of damage unless they knew exactly what they were doing."

"As soon as DECA's fixed, I'll have to terminate his ability to get onto the Megaship… again," he said, running his fingers through his hair with a heavy sigh. "I never thought I'd really have to do anything like that, not for Andros… Did he say anything else?"

"He wants to undo every good thing that he ever did," she said. "I doubt that he was exaggerating."

"But he didn't hurt you or anything, right?"

"No, he didn't hurt me… He said that he loved me, that he loved all of us…But he's not Andros anymore," Ashley said sadly, making her way to T.J.'s bedroom and finding the door open. She stood at the doorway a moment, looking at Cassie lying on T.J.'s bed with her eyes shut, not moving, save for the light motion of her chest as she breathed. Esson was sitting in a chair that had been pulled next to the bed, looking tearful as he held onto Cassie's hand.

Ashley turned back to Zhane, who seemed somewhat still frozen by the revelation that Andros had caused damage to the ship.

"What should I do to help?" she asked, snapping him out of his trance.

"I'm going to start on the repairs to DECA," he said. "Check on Carlos and the others. I sent T.J. to the bridge to steer the ship and he hasn't reported anything back to me since. And no one has tried to reach me on my communicator. If DECA's down, our communicators may be down too. There's no way to know what else he had time to do while he was here."

"Right," she said, not daring to use the Megalift as she made her way to the infirmary, climbing the emergency ladders instead. She walked hastily to the room, finding Aeden standing in the middle of the room, looking a little dazed.

"Are you okay, Aeden?" Ashley asked, walking toward him cautiously.

He nodded, though his expression remained the same. "Rae isn't here," he said softly. "And I can't feel her nearby."

Ashley stopped herself from saying the first thing that popped into her head. But she knew that Andros likely had something to do with Rae's disappearance. After all, Rae would never leave Aeden as long as he was hurt, especially not with his spirits having been so down.

"It's all right, Aeden," she said instead, leading him to a chair and putting enough pressure on his shoulder to make him sit down. "I'm sure she's just on the bridge or something."

Aeden nodded slightly, but did not look very certain as he did so. "Yeah," he said after a moment, looking up at her. "She's probably on the bridge…"

Ashley swallowed hard as she stared back at Aeden, seeing for the first time a set of reddened eyes and flushed, sweaty skin. "Are you feeling okay, Aeden?" she asked.

But before he could answer her, Aeden's head dropped and he began to breathe lightly in the sleep that had suddenly overcome him. Ashley put her hand up to his forehead, ignoring the dampness of it to feel for a temperature on him. She sighed, concluding that he definitely had a fever, though she wondered from what. He had been fine all evening until now and suddenly she started to wonder if Andros might have something to do with this as well.

But any questions she had for Aeden would have to wait a while longer, she guessed as she leaned him back in the chair to let his head rest on the bed behind him. No, Rae would not have left him for even a moment in his current condition. Something else was going on.

"Ashley," she heard Zhane call from the ship's intercom. "Have you seen Carlos?"

"No," she answered. "Have you figured out what's going on with DECA yet?"

"Sort of," he said. "DECA isn't just unresponsive to verbal commands, she's ignoring any commands that I put in her system manually too. Andros must have issued a lockdown and I don't know that I can bypass it. He even shut down our communicators… So, is Aeden with you?"

"Yeah, but he's pretty out of it," Ashley said, looking back at the sleeping ranger. "He has a fever and he said something about not being able to find Rae. He couldn't even feel her presence anymore."

There was a short pause before Zhane spoke again. "Andros?"

"Maybe. And I don't think I should just leave him here alone while he's like this."

"No," Zhane said quickly. "Just keep me posted if you find out anything else and I'll let you know as soon as I have DECA fixed."

"Okay," she said with a nod that she knew he could not see. She sighed softly, picking up a nearby AmScanner and pressing a few buttons.

One hundred five degrees. Aeden was pretty sick and, as she tried to think of something that she could do for him, he seemed to get paler.

Ashley shook her head to herself, wondering how Andros could do something so terrible to his own brother. Evil or not, this was his family and if he was willing to harm his twin, then he might go after Onell and Talli next. Ashley almost hoped not to hear anything back from Lyell and the Rebels now. Because if the rangers knew where the Rebels were hiding, then it would not be long before Andros found out.

The ship jerked forward suddenly and Ashley fell against him, though it worried her that he was not awakened. As she regained her balance, the lights in the room flickered and went out as the ship jerked forward again. The force knocked her to the floor this time, but Aeden remained reclined against the bed, still heavily sleeping.

"Ashley, are you and Aeden okay?" Zhane's voice asked over the intercom again.

"Yeah, we're fine," Ashley replied, picking herself up from the ground. "What happened?"

"The power failed and one of the ship's thrusters went offline," Zhane explained. "I fixed the power, but not the thruster. We won't be able to achieve Hyper Rush Velocity until it's fixed… Still no sign of Rae or Carlos?"

"No," she answered.

"As soon as DECA is back up, I'll get her to search the Megaship for them. But I'm sure they're fine… Andros wouldn't hurt them."

"No," Ashley said softly. "_Andros_ wouldn't."

"I'll keep you posted, Ash," Zhane said, seemingly not hearing her remark. "Just stay put for now."

"Right," Ashley agreed, feeling more helpless as she stared at Aeden, who felt even warmer than he had before.

"He's so cute when he's sleeping, isn't he?" Ashley heard from behind her.

Without bothering to turn around, Ashley opened a drawer by the chair where Aeden slept and began to prepare a cold compress, popping the small bag within it and shaking it to distribute the released water that quickly began to freeze.

"You're still here?" she asked nonchalantly.

"Well, I told you that I'd see you around," Andros pointed out.

"Yeah, I guess you did," Ashley replied, wrapping a towel around the compress and placing it against Aeden's forehead.

"Aren't you going to ask me what I did to him?" Andros asked, waiting for her to look his way.

But Ashley's attention remained on Aeden. "I can see what you did to him," she said accusingly. "I saw what you did to Cassie too… I suppose you're trying to make some kind of point, right?"

"Not at all," Andros answered, shaking his head. "I simply needed a way to keep Aeden out of the way. No more, no less."

"Because he knows so much about the Megaship?" Ashley guessed. "To keep him from fixing DECA? Well, we _all_ know about the ship, but you didn't do this to the rest of us."

"That's not fair," Andros replied. "In this game, I have to stay creative to keep you on your toes. If everyone died the same way, what kind of fun would that be to brag about? Though I guess I probably should have tried to use this method on everyone since this seems to be the only one that succeeded."

"What about Cassie?" Ashley asked angrily, finally turning to him and making eye contact.

"She's alive, isn't she?" he asked impatiently. "Had I been successful, she wouldn't be and neither would Zhane or Esson. Cassie's room was only chosen because I figured that Esson would be in there too. But being the gentleman that he is, he had decided to sleep on Carlos' floor where he could be close to her without being…_close_ to her. And because of that, they're both still breathing. And Zhane was supposed to be asleep by the time the oxygen level in his room had reached dangerously low levels, but he never went to sleep… Now that I'm gone, I guess I can't count on anything around here anymore."

"So you really were trying to kill them?" Ashley asked incredulously. "You really aren't Andros anymore."

"Didn't we just go over this?" he asked irately. "I'm Andros until Dark Specter decides to present me with a new name. Until then, you're going to have to stop telling me who I'm not."

Ashley turned back to Aeden as he shivered a little from the compress. "What did you do with Rae and Carlos?" she asked softly.

Andros shrugged. "Now why would I bother taking them?" he asked, pretending to think about it for a moment. "More than that, why do you care? Aeden's temperature is steadily rising to a point where he might actually die and you're concerned about where Rae and Carlos are? Priorities, Ashley… "

"Are they at least alive?"

"I really don't know," he sighed. "I haven't checked on them in a while and I don't intend to. The important thing is that they're out of the way for now."

"That's everything then, isn't it?"

"What do you mean?"

"The five things that a ship needs," Ashley said, thinking about it for a second. "We've gone through all of them by now, I think. And if that's the extent of your plans, then I'm just a little disappointed at the villain you're turning out to be."

Andros smiled spitefully. "As I told you before, Ashley, you have no idea what I'm capable of doing. Believe me when I tell you, this is just a game to me. If I really wanted to destroy you, I could… And this game doesn't stop when you realize what a ship needs. I'm not even sure that you understand what my plan is."

"I know what your plan is," Ashley said. "You've already said it. You want us out of the way… And why? So that you can take over the ship and hand it over to Astronema and Dark Specter?"

"You're thinking too much, Ashley. The only thing that makes my plan work is having DECA out of commission for a while. And on a damaged ship with eight capable people, I have to take some of them out of the picture, right? So, two are unconscious, two are babysitting the unconscious rangers –that would be you and Esson, two are missing, one is steering the ship, and the other is trying to fix DECA. But he won't succeed, not before the Astro Megaship self-destructs."

"What?" Ashley asked.

"Oh, right. I forgot to mention that, didn't I? You see, the game ends when DECA's fixed and you stop the ship from self-destructing… Do I still disappoint you as a villain, Ashley? Well, it gets better. You have less than fifteen minutes to figure it out."

Ashley stared at him, having no way of reading him to see how much truth there was to what he was saying. After all, there had been no countdown or announcement of the self-destruction from DECA and regardless of what had been done to DECA's program, she announced everything that she did before she did it.

"DECA _did_ announce the countdown," Andros said. "But she responds only to my voice now, so she announced it only to me and I ordered her not to resume the countdown until less than five minutes were left. So, you have plenty of time to tell the others and find Carlos and Rae if you'd like. But it won't do much good if you're all destroyed in the end."

"This isn't the end for any of us," Ashley said defiantly. "We'll fix DECA and end your stupid little game."

"Yes, well. You keep that spirit up, my little Rayl flower. If I don't see you again, I want you to know that I love you and I'll never forget you."

"Even though you've forgotten yourself?" Ashley asked, facing him angrily.

"Goodbye, Ashley," Andros said instead, disappearing from the infirmary.

Ashley began to panic a little. She had no way of notifying Zhane of what was going on until he contacted her through the ship's intercom again. But there was no way of knowing how long it would take before he did that again. There was no way that they could fix DECA as long as her program only responded to Andros' voice…

That was it.

Ashley stood next to Aeden, sitting him up in the chair as best as she could and shaking him a little.

"Aeden," Ashley called to him. "Wake up, Aeden, please. Please, wake up."

His eyes opened briefly, before closing as his head dropped down again.

"Aeden, you have to wake up," Ashley pleaded, shaking him again. "I need to know what Andros did to you. We don't have a lot of time."

"Andros?" he repeated groggily.

"Yes. What did he do to you? The AmScanner didn't tell me much of anything. You have to tell me what he did so that I can help you."

Aeden's eyes fluttered open and he looked at Ashley for a moment, waiting for his vision to improve. But two fuzzy Ashleys remained in front of him and he closed his eyes again. "I didn't see," he answered. "He did something to my arm."

Ashley looked down at Aeden's arms, lifting them and looking all over them, finally finding a dark red bruise on the back of his upper arm. Andros had obviously injected Aeden with something, but what? And she did not have a lot of time to try to figure it out. Ashley closed her eyes and tried to think. This was a game to Andros, as he had said more than once. And any fair game would have a few clues. She thought that she had one of them figured out, at least she hoped that she did. But she could not test her theory if Aeden did not wake up first.

Suddenly, she thought she had it. "Aeden, what's a Rayl flower?" she asked.

"Poisonous medicinal plant," Aeden answered after Ashley shook him again.

"How can it be both?"

"Leaves are poisonous and petals are… are medicinal."

Ashley smiled and opened the cabinet attached to the underside of the bed marked for medicines. She hurriedly looked through the bottles for anything marked with the word Rayl. But she found nothing.

"We don't… don't have that stuff, Ashley," Aeden said, trying to lift his head. "But look for… Cotyl."

"Cotyl… Cotyl," Ashley said to herself, skimming through the medications. Her eyes rested on a small vial. "Got it. How much do you have to drink?"

"None… You have to inject it."

Ashley's face paled a little. "Inject it?"

"Into the muscle of my upper arm… I'd do it myself but I'm… having a hard time moving right now."

Ashley sighed softly. She did not exactly have time to think about it too much and this was important. She opened the drawer just under the medicines and found a pair of gloves, a syringe, and some antiseptic. She put on the gloves and removed the syringe from the drawer and took it out of its package, her eyes fixed on the needle that was already attached.

"Just two milliliters," Aeden said, briefly seeing the fear in Ashley's eyes as he continued to struggle to keep his own open. "Hand steady…"

"Sorry," Ashley replied, letting out a deep breath. "Needles make me nervous."

But Aeden's eyes were closed again. Ashley sighed again and cleaned an area on his upper arm before turning her attention back to the syringe. Her hand began to shake a little as she reached for it again and she pulled the cover off of the attached needle. She pushed down the plunger and placed it into the vial, drawing out the medicine. She tried not to think of everything that could go wrong as she quickly pierced him with the needle. He winced a little but remained still as she pressed down on the plunger and removed the needle from his arm.

Ashley watched him for a few minutes, hoping that he would get up after the first couple of times that he fluttered his eyes open. But she was certain of one thing. Aeden's temperature had started to go down. So she knew that it would be just a matter of time before he was feeling better. But they were running out of time and she could not assume that Andros had been bluffing.

Within ten minutes, Aeden opened his eyes again and immediately sat up as he listened to Ashley explain what was going on as well as her plan.

"The Astro Megaship will self-destruct in exactly five minutes," DECA announced, making Ashley and Aeden look up.

"You really think this'll work?" he asked hoarsely, standing up from the chair with Ashley's assistance.

"If not, we all die anyway," Ashley said simply. "So, I'm willing to try just about anything right now."

"I'm with you on that one," he replied, walking unsteadily with Ashley to the Megalift.

"You sure you're ready?"

"The sooner we do this, the sooner we can find Carlos and Rae."

"Right," Ashley agreed.

_**Author's Note**: Unscheduled hiatus over! No computer for a year while working my way up to a new laptop! To everyone who have been waiting patiently or impatiently for the conclusion to this story, thank you for reading and/or continuing to read my story as well as your kind reviews. You know who you are. :)_

_Now let's try to end this thing!_


	46. Chapter 46

Ch 46

By the time Ashley and Aeden reached the Megalift, DECA had already announced that there were four minutes and thirty seconds left before the ship was set to self-destruct. Ashley had been wary earlier about using the Megalift to get around the ship in case Andros had done something to it, but there was no time to think about that now. There was only one way that Aeden was going to get to the bridge as long as he was still weak. They would just have to take their chances.

As soon as they were inside, the doors whooshed shut and clicked loudly as it locked, not moving as Ashley frantically pressed buttons inside.

"Ugh," Ashley cried in frustration, striking her palm against the Megalift door. "I knew this was going to happen!"

"It's okay, Ashley," Aeden said. "Besides, if there's any place to test out your theory, it's right here and now."

Aeden stood up straighter and cleared his throat, glancing over at Ashley nervously. But he quickly composed himself again and stared up at DECA's camera.

"DECA, end lockdown sequence," he ordered.

"Command not recognized," DECA said. "Please enter a valid command."

"One more time," Ashley said quietly, closing her eyes and making a silent wish as he began to speak again.

"DECA, end lockdown sequence," Aeden said more confidently.

There was a pause and Ashley looked up at DECA's camera at the top of the Megalift, waiting for a response –any response at all.

"Password required to end lockdown sequence," DECA finally replied.

"Password?" Aeden repeated silently to Ashley, receiving a shrug from her. Neither of them had even considered a password. He tried to think for a second. "The password is… 'Ashley'."

"That is incorrect," DECA said immediately. "Password required to end lockdown sequence."

"The password is… 'Talli'," Aeden guessed, not surprised when DECA announced that it was also incorrect. He realized that there were just too many names or places or things that Andros could have chosen for a password. He knew what the password used to be. Not too long ago, it had been 'Karone'. Aeden had even suggested that it should be. But too many things had changed since then and Andros would likely have changed it to something else. He would choose something that reflected who he was now. It would probably be something that he cared about more than anything else and could never forget no matter how his personality had changed.

He glanced down at Ashley, who had come to the exact conclusion he had and was nodding in agreement.

"The password is 'Andros'," Aeden said without a hint of doubt in his voice, waiting for DECA's response.

"Lockdown sequence is terminated," DECA said.

"DECA, open the Megalift doors on the bridge and end self-destruct sequence," Ashley ordered.

"Self-destruct sequence terminated." The Megalift doors opened promptly, allowing the rangers access to the bridge where T.J. and Zhane sat looking relieved to see them.

"I have no idea what happened, but I have a feeling that it had something to do with you guys," Zhane said to them as they came in.

Aeden smiled a little. "Ashley figured that since my voice is closest to Andros', and since he also has a bad habit of not clarifying things with DECA, that I might be able to imitate his voice to end the lockdown."

"But DECA knows the difference between you two," Zhane pointed out. "There's no way that she didn't know you weren't Andros."

"Doesn't matter," Ashley said. "As long as it was Andros' voice that ordered her to do something, it could've come out of any of our mouths."

"Nice work, you guys," T.J. sighed in relief. "Any word on Rae and Carlos yet?"

"No," Aeden replied, lowering his eyes sadly. "And I still can't feel her very well."

Zhane turned around to face DECA's camera. "DECA, try to locate Carlos and Rae."

"Carlos and Rae are in the Healing Chamber on Megadeck 6," DECA answered immediately.

Without hesitation, the rangers headed to Megadeck 6, passing through the engine room and making a beeline for the Healing Chamber, finding the door wide open.

"Maybe they got out after DECA ended the lockdown," T.J. said optimistically.

But Aeden shook his head and kept walking into the room. "I can feel Rae… It's faint, but I can feel her."

As he looked around, he began to feel as though something were very wrong. He wondered if it might have been the coldness of the room that sent a shiver down his spine. But deep down, he knew what it was that he felt. It was worse than what he felt just knowing that she was missing. It was… something else. It was bad enough to slow his steps as he went further into the room. Something very bad.

"They _are_ still in here," Ashley said softly, looking up at the rangers from behind the farthest cryogenic tube.

The rangers made their way to where she stood, looking down into the tube and seeing Carlos lying inside with his eyes closed. Aeden rushed to the closer tube, looking down tearfully at the unmoving Rae and trying not to panic.

"Let's get them out of these things," Zhane said, not sure that it would do any good as he pressed a few buttons to open the tubes. "DECA, teleport us to the infirmary."

Aeden held on tightly to Rae, pressing her cold body close to his, hoping to warm her a little. But he could feel nothing from her even as she lay against him –not a heartbeat or a single breath. Yet he knew somehow that she was still alive, just as he had felt that Andros was alive when he was in the hospital. He tried to keep his thoughts positive in spite of her stiffness, but he could not help thinking the absolute worst.

Once in the infirmary, Zhane and T.J. placed Carlos on one of the examination tables, moving back to allow Ashley to spread several warm blankets over him. Aeden put Rae down on the table that had served as his bed earlier and allowed Ashley to cover her with blankets as well. After staring at her and Carlos for what felt like a lifetime, he glanced up at Zhane as he walked over to him.

"It's standard hypothermia protocol," Zhane explained, trying to sound reassuring. "They just need time and warmth, that's all."

"When Andros woke me and Lyell up, we didn't go through all of this," Aeden pointed out.

Zhane sighed. "You two were on life support systems, so the tube was helping you breathe. But Andros didn't turn on the oxygen barrier… There wasn't anything helping them stay alive. He may as well have just locked them in a freezer. But there isn't any reason they shouldn't make it. The AmScanner shows that they're both breathing, but it'll take a little while to get it and their heart rates back to normal… Unless there's something else that Andros has in mind for us today, I think it's safe to say that we all made it. So don't worry. Things aren't as bad as they look."

"No, I guess not," Aeden decided aloud, holding onto Rae's hand under the blanket. "If anything happens to her, Zhane…"

"I know," he said. "But when it's all said and done, this is still Andros that we're talking about. Your brother… _our_ brother… Like you and Rae said earlier, we can't just kill him. We just need time to think of something."

"And like _you_ said earlier, he's not giving us time to think of anything. He's not giving us time to heal from the beating he handed us less than eight hours ago. He didn't even give us time to sleep. And he'll probably be ready to hand us our butts later on today."

"Which is why I'm going to run system check functions," Zhane said. "We need the ship at one hundred percent or close to it. You stay with Rae and Carlos. Let me know if you need anything… Ashley, do you think you'll have time to help?"

Ashley nodded, lightly smoothing back Carlos' hair once before stepping away from him. "I definitely can't sleep after all of this. Just let me know what I can do."

"Can you and T.J. help me test the engine?" Zhane asked. "It needs to run at optimum efficiency if we're going to get by with a damaged thruster for a while."

"What about a scan of the area?" T.J. asked. "Andros might be nearby or even still on the ship somewhere."

"Yeah," Zhane replied. "But I'm going to see if I can pry Esson away from Cassie for a little while to take care of that. Besides, it can't do him any good just sitting there waiting for her to wake up."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

The last thing that Cassie remembered was banging on the walls of her room, hoping that someone might hear her cries for help. And she vaguely recalled hearing someone or something banging at her door as she struggled to breathe. So when she finally regained consciousness, she was not surprised to find herself out of her bedroom, nor was she surprised to find Esson sitting by her side, looking worried.

"You saved me again, didn't you?" she whispered, getting his attention.

"Cassie," Esson sighed with relief. "You're all right."

"Of course," she said, smiling in hopes of making his frown disappear. "You doubted me?"

Esson's frown remained. "Never."

Cassie shook her head to herself as she recognized the look of guilt on his face. "Oh, come on, you can't possibly find a way to blame yourself for this," she told him, knowing the answer when he looked away from her. "Esson…"

"I couldn't get to you quickly enough," he said. "You could've died, Cassie."

"But I didn't."

"Not this time, but what happens the next time I can't get to you before it's too late?"

Cassie slowly sat up in the bed. "I won't let that happen. Besides, this just caught me off guard. I'll be ready next time."

"I can't stick around for the next time," he exclaimed, lowering his head as his fists tightened in anger.

His words struck at her as though they were made of steel and she could only look at him silently, knowing that he would explain himself eventually.

Esson stood up from the chair by the bed and took a few steps from it as he pulled his thoughts together. He turned back to her, an expression comprised of guilt and pain written on his face.

"The last time I left you, I told you that Esson and Phantom Ranger could never coexist," he began solemnly. "I explained that you and I could never have a real relationship while I'm Phantom Ranger. I told you that I'd stay distracted as long as you were around and that Esson isn't –"

"Are you breaking up with me?" Cassie asked sadly, not daring to break eye contact with him now.

"No," he replied much to her surprise. "I'm not breaking up with you, Cassie. I love you… and I can't bear to see anything happen to you. When I saw you lying on the floor, not moving, barely breathing… I didn't know what to do. I haven't left your side since."

"And that's very sweet –"

"It's terrible," he interrupted, turning from her again as he began to blush at her complement. "I don't even know what's been going on with the ship because I've been here. The ship jerked us forward and I just sat here, assuming that it would be taken care of… I know that Andros was responsible for all of this, but I have no idea what else he did while he was here, other than hurting you. As Phantom Ranger, no, as a Power Ranger, I should have at least checked things out or seen if I could've been of any help to the others. But I just sat here with you, distracted…"

"What are you trying to say, Esson?"

"When I'm here, I'm not Phantom Ranger," he said in a defeated voice, turning back to meet her eyes with tears in his. "I'm only Esson and then I can't protect anyone, especially not you."

Cassie let out a breath. "Well, what will you do? You wouldn't be back if the A.D.A Galactic Force hadn't sent you, right? So this is obviously your new mission. Do you want _me_ to leave?"

"Of course not."

"Then what do you want me to do? Pretend I don't love you so that you can focus on being Phantom Ranger?"

"No, I could never focus knowing that you had to do that."

"W_hat_ then? You don't want to break up, but you're basically calling our relationship a distraction to your work as a ranger. What do you want me to do?"

Esson lowered his eyes, making his way back to the bed and sitting down on the edge of it with a sigh. Without a word, he wrapped his arms around her and rested his head on her shoulder, letting a few tears fall onto it shamelessly. Cassie hugged him back tightly, her own eyes beginning to cloud over with tears.

"What is it, Esson? Just tell me what's wrong," she asked him softly.

"I've never felt this way before," he began once he was sure that his voice was steady. "But then, I've never been in love before either. The emotions that I feel, even now, are so overwhelming… I almost lost you today and there was nothing that I could do to help you. Even with all the power that comes with being Phantom Ranger, I could do nothing at all for you. I've never felt so helpless before and that worries me."

"Why?"

"Because you were hurt and I stopped being Phantom Ranger until I was sure you were okay. I just… Esson had to be here when you woke up. I was just so worried about you…"

"Well, I don't want anything to happen to you either," she said, wiping away the few tears that she had allowed to fall once he pulled back from her. "And you don't know how often I've had the same worries about you. Because even knowing that you're a ranger, I worry more now that I know you're human too… You know what? I think the only thing that's really distracting us is this prophecy. It's messing with our heads. We need to just forget about it."

"It's not that simple."

"Why can't it be? Why can't we cut everything down to its simplest form and just go where the wind takes us for a while –enjoy the ride?"

"You do make it sound pretty easy," Esson said with a hopeful smile.

"It is," Cassie said, returning his smile. "I'll show you."

She leaned forward and kissed his lips gently.

"Were you paying attention, or do I have to show you again?" Cassie asked playfully when she pulled back from him and saw that his eyes were still closed.

Esson opened his eyes and smiled. "Maybe you should show me again, just to be sure that I've got it before I get back into Phantom Ranger mode."

Cassie grinned and brought her lips to his once more, letting the kiss last longer this time. Finally, there was a knock on the door that ended their embrace.

"Maybe if we're really quiet, they'll go away," Cassie whispered.

Esson took her hand in his and lightly kissed her fingers. "T.J. might be ready to have his room back."

"Welcome back, Phantom Ranger," Cassie sighed with a smile.

The door whooshed open then and Zhane walked into the room, glad to see Cassie sitting up. "Feeling better?" he asked.

"Much," she replied, glancing over at Esson. "Is the ship okay?"

"DECA's back on our side now," Zhane explained. "But Andros managed to get Aeden, Rae, and Carlos. Luckily, Ashley thought of a way to get things halfway back to normal."

"Are they all right?" Esson asked worriedly.

"They'll be okay," Zhane answered. "Aeden's back on his feet now. He's with Rae and Carlos in the infirmary, waiting for them to wake up. Andros put Carlos and Rae in the cryogenic tubes without the life support barrier. But they're out and breathing and getting warm. They really will be fine."

"Andros isn't going to get any better from here, is he?" Cassie asked.

Zhane shrugged. "It's not looking that way."

"Did you need my help with anything?" Esson volunteered. "I know I haven't been much help this morning –"

"You've done plenty," Zhane interrupted. "You stayed right where I needed you to be –here with Cassie."

"I could've helped fix DECA," he argued. "Leaving everything to the rest of you was unacceptable."

"It's fine, Es," Zhane sighed in exasperation. "You helped Cassie. That was way more important."

"I still apologize."

"Well, it's not too late to help us now," Zhane said, playfully putting an arm around Esson's shoulder for a moment before getting serious again. "I actually came to ask you if you'd mind scanning the area for any signs of Andros or the Dark Fortress. And once the coast is clear, I need you to issue a lockdown to prevent Andros from accessing the Astro Megaship again."

"And if we find him?" Cassie asked, getting to her feet.

"Cassie, I don't want you –" Zhane began, stopping when he saw the look of determination and impatience in Cassie's eyes. "If you find him, tail him… I don't want him out of our sight if we can help it. He won't get us like this again. Just be careful. We don't know his plans just yet, but if he's still too close to the ship for comfort, keep your eye on him until we can get our defenses in order again. What he did to us today –"

"Will never happen again," Esson finished.

"Exactly," Zhane replied. "I'll be doing an engine check with Ashley and T.J. and the communicators are working now if you need anything."

"Right," Cassie said, walking out of the room with Esson close behind.

Zhane watched them leave, lingering in T.J.'s room for a while as he closed his eyes and tried to sense Andros' presence. If he was nearby, he knew that he might be able to feel something, even if it was small. But he sensed nothing, shaking his head to himself as he left the room sadly.

"I don't know if you can hear me," he said to himself. "But what you did to us won't ever happen again…Next time, we'll be ready for you."

-0_0_0_0_0-

Astronema paced impatiently on the bridge, glancing every so often at the entrance to the main core room. Dark Specter had returned, asking her to retrieve the Red Ranger for him. She did as he commanded, but was not happy at all to do so. After all, Andros was only beginning to make her proud.

He had in a matter of minutes, created turmoil on the Astro Megaship, the likes of which she had never seen. He had even managed to incapacitate three rangers at once, including his own twin brother. And she had enjoyed watching him work in spite of her initial doubts in his plans prior to carrying them out.

But destroying the rangers was not part of the plan, Dark Specter had reminded her as he ordered her to call the Red Ranger back. And she was well aware of that, as was her brother. She knew that his intention was never to destroy the rangers. He was just toying with them. But even knowing that it was a game to him, she had to admit that Andros was already cutting it pretty close with the rangers. He needed to make a clear distinction between destroying them and playing with them.

Dark Specter was certain to take care of that, Astronema thought to herself as she continued to pace. She just hoped that he would not be too hard on the Red Ranger for enjoying himself so much. But the fact that Dark Specter had not allowed her, Ecliptor, or Darkonda into the room with them seemed to be a bad sign. Suddenly, Astronema smiled at that thought. Not that she wanted her brother to suffer, but she could not help but smirk a little at the clear jealousy that she felt from Darkonda.

She glanced over at him, watching him seethe as he tried to figure out why Dark Specter would deny him the privilege of watching the Red Ranger being punished. And after all that he had done to make sure that Dark Specter's plans had gone off without a hitch…

The door whooshed open and every head turned to it, waiting to see what damage might have been done to the Red Ranger. Without a single groan, but with his head lowered slightly, Andros limped out of the room slowly. His face was bruised a little and a thin line of blood trickled down from his upper lip to his chin. His clothes were a bit torn and bloodied as well, but he showed no evidence of being in pain other than holding his shoulder and his limp. All that Astronema could read from him at the moment was slight embarrassment.

She was somewhat worried about him, seeing him so beaten up, but all that came out when she opened her mouth was : "The rangers regained control of the Astro Megaship. They're all still alive."

"Yes, my queen," Andros replied, unable to give her any eye contact.

"It's not very often that Dark Specter hands out punishments directly," Astronema said after a moment. "You should feel honored that he would waste his time."

"Yes, my queen," was all he could say in response.

Darkonda growled, walking up to Andros and grabbing him by his collar. "What would Dark Specter have to say to you that he couldn't say in front of us? _I_made you and _I__'__m_ the reason that you're on our side right now."

"Jealous, are we?" Ecliptor asked, carefully putting his sword's blade between Darkonda and the Red Ranger to separate them.

"Why shouldn't I be?" Darkonda answered, releasing Andros' shirt while still staring daggers into him. "Dark Specter said something to you, didn't he? What didn't he want us to hear?"

"Darkonda," Astronema said firmly, striking her staff on the floor to get his attention. "If you want to question Dark Specter, then you know where to find him and I wish you the best of luck. Otherwise, keep your mouth shut."

Darkonda growled again, but said nothing more as he backed away from the Red Ranger, who still avoided eye contact.

Astronema sighed. "Ecliptor, find something presentable for the Red Ranger to wear… How long will it take for you to heal?"

Andros looked up, realizing that she was talking to him now. "A few hours," he answered.

"Good," she replied. "After that, you can resume playing with the rangers."

"Yes, my queen," he said with a brief bow, turning around and following Ecliptor away from the bridge to what he could only assume was going to be the sleeping quarters. He brushed by Darkonda as he left, sure that he heard the monster mutter something to him about finding out what Dark Specter said to him. And when Andros was certain that no one except Darkonda could see his face, he gave the monster a mocking smile as he limped away.

He was led into a room with a bed that extended from the wall, not unlike his bed on the Astro Megaship. And Ecliptor forcefully shoved a set of dark clothes into his hands that he had seen the monster pick up on the way. But Andros took them, not bothering to show any type of annoyance to him, as Ecliptor had already started walking out of the room.

As soon as the door closed behind him, Andros tossed the clothes aside and walked over to his bed with a smile. He would have been happy to share with his new comrades every detail of his conversation with Dark Specter, especially Darkonda. But he had been sworn to secrecy by his new master with the promise of a new name and, eventually, a new title. He would have to figure out a better way to cover for any future meetings with Dark Specter. Faking limps and bruising himself was fine for Astronema, but Darkonda would need more convincing, he decided as he stretched out on his new bed.

But he had a few hours now to figure something out.


	47. Chapter 47

Ch 47

"Start it again, T.J.," Zhane spoke into his communicator as he stole a glance at the ship's engine and checked something off on the clipboard in front of him.

The engines were running fine, thanks to DECA, T.J., and Ashley. They had been in the engine room for over four hours now and there were no major problems, save for the issue of the busted thruster. Hopefully, they would not need to use Hyper Rush velocity any time soon. However, the rangers knew that Andros likely would not wait for the Astro Megaship's repairs to be completed before attacking them head-on again.

"Starting it again," T.J.'s voice replied.

Within a moment, the ship's reactor glowed brightly and let out a long, gentle whirring sound. Zhane looked up again and wrote down something else on the clipboard.

"How does everything look on your end, Ashley?" Zhane asked.

Ashley pressed a few buttons on a panel on the side of the engine. "Perfect," she answered with a relieved sigh. "Rerouting the engine's circuits seems to be helping a lot. We're running at eighty-eight percent efficiency instead of seventy-five."

"Good," Zhane said, turning back to his communicator. "T.J., you can run the engines normally now. I think we're done testing them for a while. Thanks."

The reactor's lights dulled slightly and the whirring noise that had emanated from it quieted. Ashley closed the door to the panel and walked over to where Zhane stood staring down.

"So, how long do you think we'll last like this?" she asked him awkwardly.

"Well, this ship doesn't run on sunshine," he answered, keeping his eyes on the clipboard as he continued to write things down. "We'll probably make it to the nearest galaxy, if we're lucky. I think the closest active space station is Du-Wan's second moon, Uri-Beta."

"Oh," Ashley said softly. That was not exactly what she meant. What she meant to ask was how long Zhane thought they would last against the new Andros.

"I know what you meant," he replied, still unable to look her in the eye. "And I really don't know, Ash… I wish I did."

For an instant his expression changed from one of indifference to one of sadness, but almost in the same moment, it changed back and he looked up at her with a sigh.

"Stop worrying about me," he said, reading her as clearly as she was reading him now. "And please stop reading me."

"I didn't mean to pry," she said, her cheeks flushing red with embarrassment. "It's just that you haven't really said much since we started working in here, so I just wondered if you were okay."

"I'll be okay," he decided aloud. "I'm trying to get used to him not being here… and trying not to think about all the trouble he's caused already. Every time I let myself think about what happened today, I realize that I could have lost you guys last night… Even _I_ could have died and there was nothing that I could have done to stop him. We were lucky. _Very_ lucky. If he hadn't been playing with us, we'd be dead."

"I know," Ashley said. There was nothing else that she could think to say. After all, he was right and had successfully put into words everything that she had been feeling up until that moment. The idea of Andros attacking them seemed so foreign a concept to her. And no number of warnings or prophecies could have prepared her for what he had done. His knowledge of the ship and of their team's abilities made him very dangerous. And he would most certainly attack them again.

"How long do you think he'll give us?" she asked after a moment.

"It's already been a few hours. I'm sure that he'll give us plenty more time to panic before he hits us again. But with any luck, Esson and Cassie have found a way to keep him off the ship."

"Well let's go see," she said. "I know I won't be able to sleep again until I know that he can't get back in here."

"Good idea," he said, leading the way from the engine room. "The sooner we know, the better."

By the time they made it to the bridge, Ashley was plenty nervous. What if they had no way to keep Andros off the ship? He could come in and do anything he wanted, an idea that made her more and more uncomfortable. She walked silently behind Zhane, hoping for good news as she made her way to where Esson and Cassie sat.

"Tell me good things," Zhane said, resting a hand on Esson's shoulder.

"I wish I could," Esson answered, looking up at him briefly. "I checked DECA's monitoring system support, which is basically the monitor that keeps track of DECA in case anything goes wrong with her programming so that we can figure out how to fix her. Andros teleported to the ship between two forty-five and three o'clock this morning. In that time, he shut down DECA's monitoring system and navigational system before he issued the lockdown. After that, he teleported to his bedroom and…"

"And what?" Ashley asked, nervously.

"And he watched you sleep," Cassie inputted before Esson could speak.

"That's it?" T.J. asked.

"Believe me, it was enough," Cassie said, then adding after a concerned look from Ashley. "But he didn't do anything more than that. I promise."

"I was able to use the signal from his morpher to track him to the Dark Fortress, so he's not still here," Esson continued. "I've run every scan available to me and he hasn't left anything behind on the ship that can harm us. But I'm having trouble with one thing and I was hoping to get a few more opinions on it, if you don't mind."

"What is it?" Zhane asked.

"According to DECA's records, Andros took precautions to make sure that he wouldn't be able to get onto the ship after going to the Dark Fortress the first time. He issued an order to DECA that would prevent him from having any access whatsoever to the Astro Megaship. So, even if he was able to cancel the command once he got here, I've been trying to figure out how he was able to get onto the ship in the first place."

"Maybe Andros did something else to cancel it," T.J. suggested.

"There's nothing else that he could have done to cancel it outside of the ship. It's actually still an active order right now. I've checked it for loopholes and cancelations, reissues and any other way that he could have gotten here without activating the Astro Megaship's force-field. There is nothing else he could have done."

"What was the order exactly?" Zhane asked.

"Andros ordered DECA to activate the Astro Megaship's force-field if he or anyone with his morpher attempted to board the ship." He trailed off as he considered one other possibility, but shook his head with a sigh.

"What is it?" Zhane asked him.

"Well, I hate to say this," Esson began, lowering his eyes a little. "But it's also possible that the loophole used to get onto the ship may have something to do with… well, with you, Ashley."

"With me?" she asked timidly. "You guys don't think I let him in here, do you?"

"Not at all," Esson said. "It's just that you miss him a lot right now, which is normal. But you and Andros are Oaeta, something that no amount of evil can get in between. And your bond to one another is powerful enough to allow you to call him to you if you want it strongly enough."

"You're saying that he might have showed up here just because I wanted him to?" Ashley inquired, her fingers wrapping around Andros' locket.

"That's the only thing that I can come up with," Esson answered. "Andros ordered DECA to activate the ship's force-fields to prevent him from _attempting_ to board the ship. But what if he never _attempted_ to board the ship? If you dreamt about him or thought about him enough, then you might have unconsciously teleported him here."

All eyes were on Ashley, unknowingly casting a heavy blanket of pity over her, as a blush lit her cheeks. "Is there anything that I can do to stop it from happening again?" she asked, trying not to focus on the other rangers' thoughts. "Even if I could stop thinking about Andros, I can't exactly control my dreams."

"You don't have to stop thinking about him completely," Zhane said. "I mean, just thinking about him isn't what brought him here. Wanting him to be here with you is the only thought that you have to control."

"We know it won't be as easy as that," Cassie said to her, resting a hand on her shoulder. "But hey, don't forget all the schoolwork that we have to make up when we finally get back. That and finals should be enough to help distract you, right?"

"Right," Ashley replied, releasing the locket with a wistful sigh. But she knew that it wouldn't be as simple as that either. She would always have Andros on her mind, no matter what other things she had to do. And she wondered even now whether he had to be thinking about her for it to work or if there might come a time when he would bring her to where he was instead or her bringing him to her.

After all, they were Oaeta.

_0_0_0_0_0_

He could feel it.

During the past few minutes Andros had felt a presence in his quarters and he did not move from his bed, instead trying to figure out exactly what it was that he felt. It only took a minute for him to determine the source of the evil around him. And once he was sure, he slowly stood from his bed and turned to face the only corner in the room that he could not see from where he sat.

A bright flash of light caught his eye as it sped toward him and Andros lifted his arm in defense, watching Darkonda's sword clash against his Astromorpher. Darkonda growled at him, wondering how he could have possibly missed the Red Ranger's throat.

"You just don't quit, do you?" Andros asked, still struggling against the weight of Darkonda's weapon against his forearm.

Darkonda pressed his weight down harder on the sword. "You know, I usually enjoy lies. But when your lies affect my standing with Dark Specter, that's when we have a problem."

Andros groaned at the increase in weight, but continued to stay on his feet. "What are you talking about?"

"I know Dark Specter better than anyone," Darkonda explained. "I know that if he ever got his hands on you, there would be nothing left to drag back here. There's no possible way that Dark Specter caused those injuries that you limped out with. Dark Specter would have just destroyed you if he wanted to punish you."

Andros jerked his morpher away from Darkonda's sword, spinning backward to avoid the monster's strike immediately afterward. "Like Astronema told you: if you want to question Dark Specter, you know where to find him."

"Why question him when _you__'__re_ right here?" Darkonda said with a malicious grin. "And I'm confident that I can get the truth out of you one way or another."

Darkonda slashed at him with his sword, missing him as Andros simply moved to one side and stepped down on Darkonda's blade in two moves so quick that Darkonda just barely saw him move.

"How did you -?" Darkonda began, narrowing his yellow eyes at him as he struggled to release his sword. "The Demon Sword of Kurakk should've worn off yesterday."

"What makes you think that I need that piece of junk to do what I just did?" Andros asked.

"Junk?" Darkonda repeated angrily. "That 'piece of junk' almost killed you."

"No," Andros said firmly, using the same speed to push Darkonda against the nearest wall with the sword now positioned at the monster's throat. "_You_ killed me, Darkonda. Never forget that… I know that I won't."

"But what do you plan to do about it?" Darkonda taunted him. "You can't do anything to me as long as –"

Darkonda stopped when he thought he heard Andros laugh.

"You really think that Astronema or Dark Specter will care what happens to you?" Andros asked with a smirk. "Your part in this little scheme is over and has been for a while now. Once we officially run out of things for you to do, you'll be out of here faster than I can move this blade through your body."

"We'll see about that," Darkonda replied, disappearing suddenly from against the wall and leaving a fading laugh behind him.

Andros relaxed himself, feeling Darkonda's sword gone from his hand, and walked out of his room with a mischievous smile. Darkonda was gone for a little while, at least. That was a big part of his own plans on the Dark Fortress, he had decided earlier. After all, Darkonda would only bring doubt to Astronema, while any doubts that Ecliptor had would likely stay to himself. So, it was better this way. The only problem now was making sure that the traitorous creature never returned. That would not be so easy.

But Andros already had a plan. He just had to get one thing first.

"Red Ranger," he heard suddenly, making him stop in his tracks.

Andros turned to face his sister and bowed to her. "Yes, my queen?"

"Have you recovered?" she asked, sounding more concerned than she had hoped.

"I have," he answered. "Was there something that you needed?"

"No," she said after a moment of thought. "But the rangers will be headed to the closest planet to work on the Astro Megaship. We need to strike again before they have time to fully recover."

"Then, might I suggest that we set a course for Earth?" he asked.

"Ecliptor suggested that we wait for them at the next active space station," Astronema told him. "Why do you think we should go all the way to Earth?"

"If I've assessed the damage that I caused correctly, then the rangers will be headed to Du-Wan to fix the ship," Andros explained. "It's only a few hours away and I doubt that they would risk trying to make it any further."

"Which is why they won't follow us to Earth," Astronema interrupted. "The rangers won't risk their whole ship going down. We'll head them off at Du-Wan. Darkonda could disguise himself and sabotage the ship."

"With all due respect," Andros began with a sigh. "You can plan to see only minimum damage with that strategy. Darkonda will cause, at best, reversible damage to the ship. Aeden, Zhane, and Esson will never allow _anyone_ onto the ship after what I did. They'll just defeat whatever quantrons or monsters you send and fully repair the ship. But if we go to Earth, they'll _have_ to follow us."

"Why?"

"Because they'll assume that we're going there to attack the planet," he answered. "Sure, they might have time to fix a few things before they realize where we're headed. The thruster alone will take days to repair, two at least. And by the time they defeat anything you send on Earth, the ship will be close to running on reserve power and they still won't be able to achieve Hyper-Rush velocity."

Astronema smiled a little. "You have a plan," she concluded after a brief look into his eyes. "Tell me what it is."

"In good time, my queen," Andros said. "Please leave this to me and I won't let you down."

"You'd better not," Astronema replied, turning from him and walking back to her bedroom. "If you fail, I'll just have to introduce you to Scrudly."

Andros briefly turned to the glowing red eyes that almost immediately brightened the corridor, watching the quadruple dead-bolted door rattle as the creature banged against it and snarled at the mention of his name. He knew enough about Scrudly to know that meeting him face-to-face would never result in anything good. No, there would never be a formal introduction between him and Scrudly if he could help it.

But he already knew that he would not fail. His plan was foolproof as long as Darkonda did not try to interfere. He reached the bridge and set a course for Earth, manually turning the Dark Fortress around and activating its maximum velocity. He sighed heavily as the thrusters activated, moving the spacecraft ten times as fast as they had been going before, and leaving him unimpressed. The Astro Megaship's engines were one hundred times faster than this, he could not help thinking to himself. But he supposed that there was nothing that he could do about that for now.

He watched the stars go by on the ship's viewing screen, feeling oddly comforted by the fact that the ship's movement did not cause them to blur. He eyed a bright star in the distance, watching it grow in size as the ship sped toward it. He knew that they would never reach it as long as they were headed in this particular direction, but it was strangely entrancing, he thought as a pale yellow light enveloped the star.

Andros reached underneath the collar of his shirt and removed the thin gold chain that he had made sure to transfer from his Astroranger uniform pocket. He gently smoothed his thumb across the small square pendant that hung from it, letting his mind wander for a while to the Yellow Ranger. He closed his eyes after a moment, feeling her sadness as clearly as he did when she was standing next to him. And after a minute, he could see her standing on the bridge of the Astro Megaship, tears in her beautiful brown eyes as she tried not to think of him anymore.

Reading her now, he understood how he had managed to get onto the Astro Megaship after ordering DECA to deny him access. Now, he would likely never get the same opportunity again. It had taken him only a few minutes to realize the loophole he had left and he knew that it would only be a matter of time before Ashley called him to her. She would never call him to her again, at least not without an ulterior motive. Next time, she might lead him into a trap.

Andros shook his head to himself. He hoped that Ashley would not be stupid enough to try to fool him like that. They were both smarter than that.

"Red Ranger," Ecliptor said suddenly, shaking Andros from his thoughts as he released the necklace's pendant.

"Ecliptor," Andros began, trying to nonchalantly hide the necklace under his collar as he turned to face him. "I trust our queen explained my plan to you?"

"Yes," Ecliptor answered. "She also told me what to do with you if you fail."

"I _won__'__t_ fail," he said firmly.

"Well, you seem awfully distracted right now," Ecliptor replied. "I'm not so sure that you're up to this right now."

"I was working out a few details of my plan," Andros explained. "A minor distraction to say the least."

"I know what you were thinking about, Red Ranger," Ecliptor said accusingly. "And I suggest that you keep those thoughts to a minimum as long as you're aboard the Dark Fortress. After all, the Yellow Ranger can never join you as long as you're here."

"Of course not," Andros said. "My only thoughts concerning the Yellow Ranger are of what to do with her once I'm finished toying with her. Nothing more."

"Hmm," Ecliptor replied, taking the ship's controls.

"You've nothing to worry about, Ecliptor. My allegiance is with Astronema and Dark Specter."

"Of course," Ecliptor said with a nod. "Perhaps you should rest now. Earth is at least a six-hour journey from here and you will need your strength… You're still human, you know."

"Right," Andros said distractedly, trying to figure out if Ecliptor might have another reason for sending him away from the bridge. But Andros was not able to read anything especially sinister behind the monster's words and he shrugged, leaving the bridge and heading toward his sleeping quarters again.

Andros smiled slyly on his way to his room, recalling the details of his plan at the reverberation of Ecliptor's words in his head. It was the entire basis for his next attack on the rangers. It relied on the fact that no matter how powerful they were or how many weapons they had at their disposal, there was one thing that would always be their downfall.

They were still human.


	48. Chapter 48

Ch 48

Ashley sat motionless in front of the main viewing screen, trying to make sense of what she had just seen. She wondered if she might try watching it again just to make certain that she had not imagined any of it. But she knew that her mind could never come up with anything like that. At least in her head, it might have made more sense anyway.

She finally stretched out one arm, taking her time pressing the button on the console in front of her. After letting out a deep breath, she released the button, letting the images on the screen play once more.

But it was the same.

The scene was still the dark interior of Andros' bedroom on the Astro Megaship, where she had slept soundly on his bed. And just as before, thirty seconds passed before Andros suddenly appeared by the bed. He had looked around, seemingly confused by his surroundings, then he looked down at his bed. He had stood staring at Ashley for a long time, not moving or speaking. There had been no anger apparent on his face, nor was there the playful expression that he had shown her once she had awakened.

Ashley continued to watch, but it was a long time before anything happened again. But she knew from having watched it earlier that he would move again once she stirred in her sleep. But it was what he had done then that left her confused. After she had moved, Andros had slowly reached out and taken her hand, bringing it up to his lips. He had closed his eyes and kissed her limp fingers and then had bent down to kiss her lips ever so gently, yet long enough to make Ashley wonder how she had managed to sleep through it. When he had stood back up, he had continued to stare at her, this time almost wistfully, not letting her hand go until she had stirred again. He had then walked over to his desk, sitting on it and hugging his knees to his chest until she had begun to wake up.

It didn't make sense.

It was still confusing, she decided as she stopped playback on the scene. Was Andros really still good or was he evil and still in love with her somehow? He had kissed her and held her hand, not to mention the fact that he had said more than once that he still loved her. Yet just moments before that, he had caused so much trouble for the rangers and had even almost killed them. So was he just playing with her mind or had that kiss been for real?

Ashley shook her head, still unsure of what to think. Now she understood why the others had tried to keep her from knowing exactly what Andros had done. They had probably figured that she would hesitate the next time she had to fight him and she was not sure now that they would be wrong about that. It seemed like a long shot, but what if he really was just playing the part of the villain until the rangers had a chance to rescue him?

"And that's probably exactly what he wants you to think," she heard Aeden say from behind her, making her jump a little. He sat in the empty seat beside her and sighed. "It's got to be a trick, Ashley."

Ashley looked up at him and shook her head. "But what if it was real?"

"It might have been," Aeden replied to her surprise. "It might have been very real. But it doesn't change what he did. It doesn't reverse the damage he's done."

"I know," she said, though he could tell in her tone that she intended to convince him otherwise. But Aeden was ready for her.

"Ashley," he began slowly. "Nothing would bring me more joy than to find out that Andros was still in there somewhere. But I know better… and so do you. Even if Andros was pretending for Astronema's sake, he wouldn't hurt us like that."

"But everything he did was reversible," Ashley pointed out. "And he left me clues to figure out how to stop him. How do you explain that?"

"He's trying to throw us off, not kill us…yet. Once we start believing that he's secretly on our side, he'll get us as soon as our defenses are down… Besides, I caught a glimpse of the message Andros left for you before he went to the Dark Fortress. He said that he left because he didn't want anyone to get hurt because of him. But he didn't exactly hold back when he first fought us, did he?"

"No," Ashley admitted reluctantly. "I guess he didn't."

"And he warned us to do whatever we had to do to stay alive," Aeden said firmly. "And that's exactly what we're going to do. He can't destroy the ship bit by bit and try to kill us just to claim later that he was only pretending. If he's playing rough, then so should we. Because if we hold back even a little, he may not destroy us but we all know that Astronema, Darkonda, Ecliptor, and Dark Specter will. So until we figure out exactly what Andros is up to, we have to be on our guard and fight him just as fiercely as he fights us."

Ashley said nothing in response, but she nodded to satiate him. Aeden was right and she knew it, but the look in Andros' eyes when he took her hand was so convincing. How could she possibly ignore it? But it was harder to ignore what he had done to the others in the moments prior to his kiss. He had reprogrammed DECA, turned off the oxygen in hopes of getting Zhane, Cassie, and Esson, had poisoned Aeden, frozen Carlos and Rae, and T.J.—

"Nothing," Aeden finished for her aloud, thinking about it for the first time. "He made sure to do something to everyone except you and T.J."

"I could almost understand why he might not do anything to me," she said. "Even if he really doesn't love me, he could hurt me more psychologically than he ever could physically. But why would he leave out T.J.?"

Aeden stood up, looking very concerned as he looked at her. "Maybe he didn't," he said softly, hurrying to the Megalift with Ashley on his heels. "DECA, tell T.J. to meet us in the infirmary immediately."

DECA's light blinked in response before she confirmed. "T.J. is on his way now."

"What do you think it is?" Ashley asked him as the Megalift doors closed.

"Nothing, I hope," he replied, folding his arms as he remained deep in thought.

By the time they had reached the infirmary, T.J. was already there, leaning against the wall with his eyes closed while he waited for them.

"T.J.?" Ashley began slowly, watching his eyes open at the sound of her voice. "You okay?"

T.J. smiled a little and stood up straighter. "I'm a little tired, but I guess we all are. Other than that, I'm fine… Why?"

"You haven't been feeling flushed or anything, have you?" Aeden asked, walking past him and into the infirmary, pulling open a drawer connected to one of the beds and looking through it.

"No," T.J. said, walking over to where Aeden stood, looking over his shoulder and into the drawer filled with books, needles, and bottles. "Why?"

"Any nausea, pain, headaches?" Aeden went on, coming upon a small vial and picking it up briefly to read it. But he shook his head and placed it back into the drawer, continuing his search. "Maybe numbness or tingling?"

"No," T.J. replied again, glancing between him and a concerned looking Ashley. "What's going on, you guys?"

Aeden abandoned the drawer and looked around a while before getting his hands on an AmScanner and holding it in front of T.J. "You haven't been coughing or having trouble moving your legs, have you?"

"What's going on?" T.J. asked more firmly, putting a hand over the AmScanner's sensor and waiting for eye contact from Aeden.

Aeden sighed. "Ashley and I were talking and it occurred to us that you were the only one on the ship that Andros never did anything to directly."

"Guys, I'm fine," he replied with a smile. "If Andros didn't do anything to me, then I consider myself lucky… Besides, if he had done something to me, we would have seen it on the monitors. But the only room that he went into was his own, the infirmary, and the healing chamber."

"He didn't have to go into anyone's room to turn off the oxygen in certain ones," Aeden pointed out.

"And it's just too strange that he would go through all the trouble of hurting everyone on the ship except you," Ashley added. "If it's a coincidence, then the scan won't show anything wrong. But we need to make sure."

T.J. sighed softly but moved his hand away from the scanner. Aeden moved the scanner up and down slowly in front of him, carefully studying every number and word that came onto the screen. Finally, he stopped and pressed a few buttons on the scanner, turning from T.J. and Ashley with a heavy sigh.

"Well?" T.J. asked.

"Everything looks good," Aeden said, still studying the screen. "There's no trace of anything foreign or poisonous to the body. I don't see anything wrong."

"So, I don't have anything to worry about," T.J. said with a relieved smile. "That's a good thing, right?"

"Yeah, I guess," Aeden replied, finally looking back up at him. "It's still strange that he would attack everyone except you."

"Well, technically he was going to self-destruct the ship with me in it," T.J. pointed out. "It doesn't hurt my feelings that I didn't get a personalized attack."

Aeden tossed aside the AmScanner and shook his head, walking out of the room. "I'm going to check the backup surveillance videos just in case."

T.J. and Ashley watched as Aeden boarded the Megalift, waiting until the doors closed before speaking.

"Sorry, T.J.," Ashley said, turning to T.J. "That was kind of my fault."

"You don't have to apologize for worrying about me," T.J. replied, still looking where Aeden had been. "The real question is whether _he__'__s_ okay?"

Ashley shrugged. "Rae still hasn't woken up yet," she explained. "And I don't think he's slept since she's been in the infirmary."

"I thought she was going to be all right. I mean, Carlos has been awake for an hour or so and he's already trying to get up."

"But Rae was in the cryogenic tube longer than Carlos," Ashley explained. "And she isn't recovering as quickly as we hoped she would. I think he really feels like he let her down. And now he just doesn't want anyone else to get hurt because of Andros if he can help it."

T.J. nodded. "And let me guess, he and Andros share the I-don't-want-sympathy gene?"

"Pretty much," Ashley said. "And it won't do any good to try talking to him while he's like this… Maybe by the time we finish repairing the ship on Uri-Beta, he'll be a little less tense."

"I sure hope so," T.J. replied.

In the corner of the room, one of DECA's cameras blinked. "Zhane wishes for you to meet him and the others on the bridge."

"We're on our way, DECA," T.J. said, hurrying toward the Megalift with Ashley by his side.

The other rangers had only just reached the bridge by the time Ashley and T.J. arrived. Even Carlos had decided to join them and Ashley gave him a quick hug when she saw him. After all, she had not seen him after he had first opened his eyes, having been preoccupied by the surveillance video of Andros. Carlos smiled and hugged her back, obviously not as upset as she had thought he might be for not being there as soon as he woke up.

"I'm glad you're okay," she said to him with a small smile.

"Me too," Carlos sighed. "Any idea why Zhane called us?"

Ashley shook her head.

But they did not have to wonder for very long because Zhane stood at the doorway, quickly glancing around at the group before him before beginning.

"I'm not going to waste too much time here," Zhane said. "DECA just locked onto the Dark Fortress and it would seem that it's heading toward Earth. Obviously, we're going to go after it but that leaves us with a few serious problems that we won't be able to ignore. While the ship is running well, we won't have time to repair everything if we want to get to Earth before Andros or Astronema can do too much damage. That means that we still won't have Hyper Rush velocity and some of our scanners will be down. If we leave in the next fifteen minutes, which is approximately how long it will take to finish refueling the ship, then we should make it to Earth in two hours at maximum speed."

"How long would it take to fix the thruster?" Cassie asked. "Then we can get back our Hyper Rush velocity and still get to Earth in time."

"Fixing that thruster would take a couple of days," Zhane explained. "It practically has to be rebuilt, attached to the ship, and tested. We just don't have time… But I brought you all here to discuss a plan. Andros has been gone for one day and he's kicked our butts twice. He could have easily killed us if he had really wanted to. But for whatever reason, we're still here and we're going to prepare ourselves."

"But we don't know his next move," Esson said. "And we don't even know his reasons for going to Earth."

"It doesn't matter," Zhane said. "If Andros is going to Earth, then we have to assume that he's planning to fight us once we get there. We didn't win the fights before because he took us by surprise. This time, we'll be ready for him. I don't want anyone else in that infirmary."

"How can we prepare?" Cassie asked.

"Well, we've already seen him fight," Aeden began. "If we can stay away from hand-to-hand combat, I think we can beat him."

"Then what?" Ashley asked.

"If we can get to the point of 'then what', I'll be open to any suggestions," Aeden said.

"Well, that's why we're here now," Zhane reminded him. "We're here to plan for the unknown."

"But we won't win against him," Carlos said.

"Don't say that," Zhane said firmly.

"I'm just being honest," Carlos replied. "We can't go into any more fights with him thinking anything except the cold hard truth. Andros will win every fight we have."

"He's right, you know," Esson said in a small voice after a moment.

"Esson," Cassie said in surprise.

"Well, it's the truth," Esson said, speaking a little louder. "Andros has us beat no matter what we do. We can fight him and lose, which we've tried already. Or we can do what we do with any monster and destroy him... but he's not a monster. He's still our friend, our brother... If we kill him, we lose. If we let him live, he'll kill us."

"But we won't even get close to him," Carlos added. "Unless he lets us, we'll never lay a hand on him. I mean, maybe I was the only one who was paying attention during our fight with him, but he sped past us and broke our blasters like it was nothing. He had missiles attached to him and armor that probably couldn't have been pierced by a speck of dust, let alone our weapons... And again, maybe I was the only one to notice, but I'm pretty sure that he was flying at some point. Last time I checked, we can't fly."

"Yes, we can," Zhane said.

"And now Zhane has completely lost it," Carlos replied.

"Galaxy gliders," Zhane sighed. "That would have put us on even ground with him as far as flying. And we'd have thought of it if we had been thinking clearly. But we were more distracted by the fact that our friend was attacking us than with defending ourselves. The blasters have already been replaced. We have about twenty or thirty in the Power Vault as backup."

"And what about what Esson said?" Ashley asked when it seemed clear that Carlos had nothing more to add to his tirade.

"He's right," Zhane replied after a moment of thought. "We can't win. But that doesn't mean that we aren't going to try. Besides, I never said our goal was to win. I only want to keep us out of the infirmary."

"So, how do we attack?" Cassie asked. "I mean, do you have a plan?"

"Not exactly," Zhane said thoughtfully. "But I have a few ideas... It's risky, but if it works we'll have Andros back. We just have to be willing to take the risk."

The rangers looked at one another, though it was obvious that their main concern was Ashley as their eyes fell on her. Ashley kept her gaze on Zhane, a small glint of hope in her eyes.

"We're willing," she said simply. "No matter what it takes."

_0_0_0_0_0_0_

Andros was not certain which he liked more, the knowledge that he had the power to destroy anything on Earth that he wanted or the sounds that followed when he actually destroyed something. A couple of hours ago, before he had teleported to Earth, he would have chosen the former. After all, destruction was so easy that even the least powerful human could achieve it. But now that he was there, walking in plain sight, where everyone could see him and fear him, it was much more satisfying to hear the explosions that he produced and to see the debris that flew every which way.

He found himself smiling now, watching people run out of stores in panic as they laid eyes upon him and ran off in the opposite direction. Of course, they didn't know that Andros had no intention of harming them. But he wasn't about to reveal that to them. All he wanted were the Power Rangers, especially that Yellow Ranger.

Andros stopped attacking a moment, watching the chaos that he caused, while thinking briefly of the Yellow Ranger. She had reacted pretty closely to what he had expected -anger, sadness, disappointment. Yet, he wondered how he might be able to convince her that what had happened to him was a good thing. In fact, it would actually be best for him and Ashley if she would join him. Then, she would have no worries for her future. She had worried that he would harm her when she had last seen him, something that would not be an issue if she chose to fight alongside him. But he knew that his chances of convincing her were less than good.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Andros heard suddenly, interrupting his thoughts.

He looked up, finding seven rangers standing in front of him with weapons pointed at him. He smiled mischievously.

"My friends, it's nice to see you all alive and well," he said. "What brings you here?"

"We're here to end this," Zhane said firmly.

"You can't possibly think that things will end here," Andros retorted. "The prophecy ends on Orei when you try to rescue Zordon, or don't you remember Oracle Meda's words? And even then, you won't be able to stop me."

"We'll stop you," Esson replied.

"No, you _think_ you'll stop me," Andros said quickly. "Just because I gave you guys a few clues to figure out how to save yourselves from destruction doesn't mean that I won't kill you if I have to. But you won't kill me. It's not in you and you know that Zordon would never allow it."

"Zordon's not here," Carlos said, transforming his Lunar Lance into Booster Mode. "And we aren't going to let _you_ kill _us_."

"Then shut up and fire your weapon," Andros said, narrowing his eyes at him.

But neither Carlos nor the other rangers fired upon him and Andros smiled again. "Am I too far away?" Andros asked, walking closer to them and stopping when they all took a step back from him. "I'm trying to make it easy for you... Would you rather I give you time to put the Quadroblaster together?"

The rangers continued to stare straight ahead at him, though not saying anything more. Andros could feel that they had a plan of some sort, though he was not able to successfully read them. Besides, he decided, it would be more fun to be surprised by their actions.

Andros sighed softly and pressed the number three button on his Battlizer, feeling his strength amplify within seconds as he morphed. He sped toward the rangers, his fists already glowing with power as he charged at them. The rangers fired at Andros' feet, disrupting his speed enough to make him stop in his tracks before picking up speed and firing blasts at them from his clenched fists. The rangers dodged his attack, firing a torrent of blasts back at him, surprised when they were actually able to hit him once. But once was not enough. Even while on the ground, Andros fired off several blasts in their direction, striking the rangers and sending them down as well.

But even though the rangers were down, they realized something that Zhane had mentioned in his plan, something that would ensure that it could be done. Andros did not bring the Demon Sword of Kurakk with him and was drastically weaker than he had been during their first fight. But he was morphed now and their plan relied on him not morphing.

The rangers charged after him now, attacking Andros together. Zhane and Aeden kicked at his side but he was able to catch Zhane's foot and bring him to the ground while connecting his fist with Aeden's chest. But as soon as they were down, Carlos and T.J. were right behind him and shooting at his armor, their weapons in Booster Mode but doing no noticeable damage. Andros turned to them, knocking their weapons from their hands and went at them with Var Ta D'nig style, his hands moving almost too fast for them to see clearly. He struck at them multiple times, not attempting to switch between that fighting style and others. Var Ta D'nig seemed to be working just fine against his former friends.

Andros smiled a little as he fought them, knowing that they still did not have the guts to try to kill him. They weren't even using the training that Sadi had given them and he was certain that would work fairly well against him, even in Battlizer Mode. They were focused more than they had been when he had fought them before, but they were still distracted. Or rather, maybe they were still just holding back. He had only been at this for a couple of days, so he figured that it would take some time for them to get used to having to fight him. But they would have to get serious soon if they wanted to beat him, he decided. If they didn't, he would just have to kill them.

Yet somehow, in the time that he spent fighting, he almost did not notice the absence of the other three rangers. Part of their plan, no doubt, he wondered once he finally realized it. He returned his attention to the rangers still attempting to get him to surrender or laugh himself into submission, evidenced by their obvious efforts to use less than effective force on him.

"When are you going to understand that you won't win as long as you keep holding back?" he asked them as he threw the rangers flying back with a mere thought. "I've only gotten stronger since yesterday and you haven't all had a chance to fully recover from our last encounter."

Andros watched the rangers get to their feet and grip their weapons tightly as they started toward him again.

Andros sighed. "I won't insult you by telling you to give up," he said. "I know better than that. But don't insult me with these attacks that wouldn't traumatize an insect, not when I came here for a good fight. Give me a challenge!"

"How's this?" he heard the Yellow Ranger ask from behind him.

He turned around in response to her voice, as a reflex rather than curiosity to her question. But as he expected, he turned in time to be struck by her arm in Battle Blade mode. He staggered backward a little, only to look up and see her coming at him again, this time with her Star Slinger. Now she was using what Sadi had taught her, he thought to himself as he fell to the ground after several large spheres of energy pushed against him with more force than he had expected. Andros fired at her but missed terribly as his eyesight slowly recovered from her blinding Star Slinger attack. Before he could stand, a black laser blast hit his chest. It had come from directly in front of him but no one was there, except the now-invisible Phantom Ranger, he guessed.

Andros rolled away from the attack only to be greeted with strikes from the Lunar Lance and the Silver Silverizer's blade as Aeden flipped over his head and landed behind him, grabbing Andros' arm just as Phantom Ranger became visible and grabbed his other arm. Andros began to pull away from them but T.J. brought his Astro Axe to Andros' neck to immobilize him.

Zhane walked up to him, removing Andros' ranger helmet as Cassie came forward with him. She raised her Satellite Stunner and aimed directly at Andros' head. Andros could not help but smile a little. They were certainly making him proud now. He was so caught up in the excitement that he almost asked them all to join him in taking over the universe for Dark Specter. But again, his odds of being successful were very unfavorable.

"You won't fire," Andros said to Cassie with a smirk. "If you were going to shoot me, you would have done it when I gave you the chance."

"Don't kid yourself," Cassie said, her hand steadier than Andros had expected. "We just needed you a little weakened first."

She fired immediately, a direct hit indicated by the brief pink ring that left her weapon and landed on his scar. Andros winced and staggered back a little, still held tightly by his brothers. When the pain finally began to subside, he looked around at the waiting rangers and began to laugh.

"Very good, rangers," he said. "You're showing potential. You actually had me a little worried. It's too bad that you didn't succeed. You might've actually killed me. I'd use a blaster next time though… unless you weren't trying to kill me… You were trying to bring back the old Andros, weren't you?"

The lowered heads of the rangers standing in front of him was enough of an answer for him. For an instant, he almost felt sorry for them.

"You didn't really think it would be that easy, did you?" Andros asked, almost sincerely. "Well, what are you going to do now? Take me to the ship? Have DECA run tests on me for a cure? This isn't something that you can reverse like that. I'm evil and I won't be stopped by the Power Rangers unless you get serious and fight fire with fire."

"You mean become like you?" T.J. asked, his Astro Axe still lingering by Andros' neck. "You'll never see us sink that low."

Andros smiled. "Maybe not them," he said, glancing down at his Battlizer. "Battlizer Defense Mode! Activate Blue Ranger!"

The rangers looked at T.J., who stood behind Andros, slowly moving his weapon away from him. The Blue Ranger lifted his weapon above his head, turning toward Phantom Ranger.

"Destroy them," Andros said simply.


	49. Chapter 49

Ch 49

A crackle of electricity surrounded the Astro Axe and T.J. brought it down over Phantom Ranger. Phantom Ranger released Andros' arm and defended himself, striking against T.J.'s weapon with the armor on his wrist and pushing against the weight of the Astro Axe with all his might.

"Snap out of it, T.J.," Aeden said, still holding onto his brother with both hands.

But T.J. only turned his attention to the Green Ranger, striking at him next while taking out his Astro Blaster and firing a shot at Phantom Ranger. Both rangers quickly and easily avoided the attacks, knowing the true intention of them as Andros was immediately freed. T.J. fired at the other rangers, creating more distance between him and the others as they flipped and ran to avoid him.

"What did you do to him?" Ashley asked Andros as she watched T.J. carefully move toward her with his Astro Blaster.

"The same thing that I could do to any of you if you continue to get in my way," Andros said threateningly. "Good luck, rangers."

Andros teleported away, leaving T.J. alone with the rangers. The Blue Ranger charged at the Pink Ranger, doing a spinning Astro Axe attack when he reached her. Cassie groaned in pain as she was struck several times, but before any major damage could be done, T.J. seemed to slowly back away from her.

Cassie turned around behind her, finding Zhane, Esson, and Aeden standing behind her with their palms out, seeming to be using telekinesis to push T.J. back from her. It was working well, but she could already see that it was weakening them a little as T.J.'s movement from her began to stop.

Ashley pointed her weapon at T.J., knowing that there would be no other choice. Zhane's dream of having no one in the infirmary would have to wait a little longer. She readied her Star Slinger in Booster Mode and prepared to fire at the Blue Ranger.

"Ashley, don't!" T.J. shouted at her suddenly.

Ashley stood still, her hand beginning to shake a little. "T.J.?" she inquired.

"I... can't... I can't stop," he said, raising his Astro Axe again. "I don't know how to stop... "

"You have to demorph, T.J.," Aeden said. "It's the only way to stop."

"I can't," he said, raising his Astro Blaster at the Silver Ranger. "I'm trying, but I can't."

T.J. fired and Zhane jumped out of the way, blocking the flying kick that the Blue Ranger tried immediately afterward.

"Try again, T.J.," Phantom Ranger said as the Blue Ranger turned his attention to him and Carlos. "You have to demorph."

"Power... power down!" T.J. said, seeming to struggle a bit with himself. But he eventually was able to cross his arms over his head and bring them down again. He demorphed and immediately collapsed onto the ground. The other rangers gathered around him, helping him to his feet.

"What happened to me?" T.J. asked. "How did he do that?"

"That's a good question," Cassie said. "We must have seen DECA's videos ten times and Andros never went into T.J.'s room. How could he tamper with his morpher?"

"He didn't," Aeden sighed. "The Battlizer has a feature that allows the wearer to control the other rangers. It's a last minute defense technique used only in emergency situations. It gives the activated ranger increased power and allows the other rangers to keep fighting when their resolve is low. We practiced with it a long time ago. He hasn't used it since. I'm surprised that he remembered how it works."

"And he said that he can do the same to any of us," Esson said. "There has to be a way to remedy that."

"I'll look through DECA's programming and see if there's a way," Zhane said. "In the meantime, you guys can get back to the bridge and start scanning Earth for Andros. T.J., you rest up for a bit. I'm sure that Andros isn't done here and we'll need you at your best. Ashley, you can... Ashley?"

The rangers looked around them, not finding the Yellow Ranger anywhere.

"She was just here," Cassie said. "Where'd she go?"

"Good question," Zhane said. "Let's get back to the ship... DECA can scan the area quicker than we can."

_O_O_O_O_

Wherever she had ended up, it was eerily beautiful, Ashley thought to herself as she walked through a seemingly-endless forest that blinded her with bright light. But what little of the forest she could see was amazing. She finally demorphed, wondering if the light reflecting off the visor of her ranger helmet was the cause of her limited sight. She looked around, finding a nearly white landscape with grass, leaves, and bark so paled by the light that she wondered if they might really be white. She looked down at the forest floor as she walked, seeing a few colors hidden by the flood of light cutting around every tree.

A light breeze blew her hair away from her face and seemed to pull her toward the brightest part of the forest. Without looking straight ahead of her, she knew that Andros would likely be waiting for her there.

"Welcome to the Forest of Eternal Light," Andros said, stepping out from behind a tree a few feet ahead of her. He walked toward her, a faint smile on his lips as he reached her. "It's beautiful, isn't it? I mean, it's so… so secluded and, I don't know, it's just so gorgeous."

Ashley stared at him, a million questions in her eyes. "How did I get here?" she finally asked.

"You already know that I brought you here," Andros said, shaking his head at her. "What you really want to ask me is _why_ I brought you here, isn't it?"

Ashley nodded.

"Well, I wanted to talk to you privately, as far away from the rangers as possible. All they'd do is fill your head with their ideas on what good and evil are supposed to mean."

"And what do they mean to you?" Ashley asked with a frown.

"They're just words," Andros answered, rolling his eyes. "It's a theory really–something that hasn't been proven because it can't be agreed on. Besides, everyone has a bit of evil in them. It's the only way to know for sure that you're being good."

"Don't give me that," Ashley said angrily. "There's nothing good about what you are now or anything that you've done to us."

"Oh, come on, Ashley. Can you _really_ call me evil? Everything I've done has been very tame. I haven't killed anyone and not once have I ever hurt you."

Ashley crossed her arms. "You've only tried to kill everyone," she retorted. "You're right. That's not evil at all."

"You're not hearing me, Ashley," he sighed, resting his hands gently on her shoulders. "I've _never_ hurt _you_… not once. And it's because I love you. I love you so much."

She unfolded her arms and closed her eyes wondering if he would still be there when she opened them. After all, it felt like such a dream. This could not possibly be happening, she thought to herself. How could it be that Andros had the ability to love her or anything else while he was evil? Yet here he was, declaring his love for her as though nothing had changed between them.

"Do you love me?" Andros asked her, smiling a little when she nodded her head slowly. "Say it."

"I love you," she whispered without hesitation, struggling to force back the tears stinging her eyes.

Andros gazed longingly into her eyes and Ashley could not help looking back into his with the same helplessness that seemed to bring their faces closer and closer together. Before she knew it, her lips were locked with his and she could feel his fingers in her hair as his hand lightly stroked her cheek. And it was the same, she thought. It was the same kiss and touch that she had felt before. It was Andros' touch and kiss. It hadn't changed at all even though he was evil now. It was all the same.

"I love you," he said, pulling her gently into another kiss.

No, it wasn't the same, Ashley realized suddenly at hearing his words. This was not the Andros that she was in love with. This man was more or less an imposter no matter what he looked like. It might as well have been Darkonda holding her in his arms. In the end, this was a different Andros.

She pulled back from him, the tears in her eyes spilling over as she shook her head at him. "You're a liar," she said with a sniffle. "How can you claim to love me and then have the nerve to lie to my face like that?"

"I'm not lying to you, Ashley," he said, his expression truly one of confusion. "I do love you."

Ashley stepped away from him. "Stop it!" she shouted at him. "You said that you've never hurt me. But you're lying. I was hurt when you left for the Dark Fortress and did this to yourself. I was hurt when you attacked me and our friends. I've been hurt ever since and I'm hurting now."

"Ashley, you know that I love you –"

"Now it's _you_ who's not hearing _me_," she interrupted tearfully. "I know you love me. You told me so more than once before you tried to destroy the Astro Megaship, with me on it, by the way. And I saw DECA's surveillance video."

"Video?" Andros asked, though he blushed a little.

"Yes, before I woke up and saw you on the ship, you kissed me… I know now that it was real. So I know that you love me. What I'm saying to you is that you aren't the Andros that I fell in love with."

"Then why are you crying?" he asked gently, bringing a hand to her cheek again as he stepped forward. But Ashley swatted his hand away and he frowned. "A minute ago, you told me that you still love me too. That's why you're crying and that's why you kissed me. We're Oaeta and you can't fight against that. Neither can I. That's why I brought you here… I want you to join me on the Dark Fortress. If you do that, I promise that I'll never attack the other rangers again. Besides, once we're together, I won't have to fight the prophecy saying that I'm supposed to be evil and we don't have to suffer being apart."

"I can't do that," she said, letting more tears fall. "You know I can't do that… "

"Why not?" Andros asked. "Even if you're with me, you don't have to be evil. You can still be the Ashley that I love right now. You'll never want for anything."

"Of course I will," she said sadly. "I'll want to be with my friends and my family. I'll want you back the way you were before all of this... I'll always want for something, Andros. But it'll never be for you as long as you're like this."

Andros closed his eyes and sighed in exasperation. "Why does everything have to be so black and white with you? As a ranger, all we ever wanted was peace and harmony, but when it comes down to it, that's not what we really want. We _want_ chaos. We _need_ it… I just gave you an ultimatum that would solve all your problems and mine, but you're _choosing_ to fight me instead."

"Your ultimatum calls for me to be something that I'm not," she argued. "Even if I stayed the same, _you_ wouldn't be good anymore. If I don't have to be evil then you shouldn't have to be either. If you really want us together, then you should come back to the Megaship with me and let us help you."

Andros shook his head. "Why can't I make you understand?"

He turned away from her and began to walk away, stopping for a moment. "So, I guess there's no convincing you then?" he asked without looking at her.

"I'm sorry," Ashley said softly.

"No, you're not," Andros said, feeling for something in the air that she could not see and pulling out a small yellow box from out of nowhere. "But you _will_ be sorry... you all will."

-O-O-O-O-O-

"This is taking too long," Cassie said, standing up angrily. "We should be down there finding her. She could be in danger. We don't know what Andros might be doing to her."

"Relax, Cassie," Zhane said. "Andros hasn't hurt Ashley yet and I doubt that he plans to. We'll find her soon."

"You said that an hour ago," Cassie exclaimed. "We should've found her by now."

"We'll find her," Esson said, placing a hand on her shoulder and feeling her immediately calm down. "With the ship's damage, the scan's going a little slower than usual. But we'll find her."

"Not down there, you won't," Ashley said with a sigh, standing at the entrance to the bridge and wiping away the last of her tears.

"Ash!" Cassie exclaimed, running to her and giving her a big hug. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she replied with a shrug as Cassie released her. "I'm fine. How's T.J.?"

"I'm okay," T.J. answered, making his way to the front of the small crowd of rangers that had surrounded Ashley. "Just a little weak… But how are you really? He didn't hurt you, did he?"

Ashley shook her head. "No. He just… talked. He teleported me to a place called the Forest of Eternal Light and I think he has a dorig."

"So that's why he came to Earth," Zhane said. "He wanted the dorig."

"So I guess the Forest of Eternal Light is on Earth?" Carlos asked. "Then, why couldn't we find Ashley when we scanned for her?"

"The Forest of Eternal Light is on Earth, only reached through an interdimensional doorway," DECA explained. "The doorways cannot be detected by scanning systems, nor can the other areas that they lead to. Once opened, the interdimensional doorway is very difficult to close again, resulting in the same problem caused by activating the oracles of the seven dorigs."

"You mean, the world is giving up energy in exchange for the door being opened?" Zhane inquired.

"That is correct," DECA answered. "As long as the door remains open, the universe will forfeit energy across the interdimensional plane."

"There has to be a way to close it," Esson replied.

"We could always ask an oracle," Carlos suggested. "After all, we're giving up energy anyway so what's the harm?"

"Unfortunately, the closest dorig from here is on Cenat," Zhane sighed. "And we still need to repair the ship if we want to get there fast. We might be lucky enough to find the supplies that we need, but it'll still take a couple of days or so. We have to assume that we won't get that kind of time."

"If you give us a list, we might be able to find some of the parts we need on Earth or at least something similar," T.J. suggested aloud. "Then, after school tomorrow, we can try to find more supplies if we can't get them all today. I mean, it couldn't hurt, right?"

"That's a good idea," Zhane said. "I'll have the list ready in the next hour or so. Until then, everybody take it easy for a while. Andros will probably lay low for the rest of the day anyway."

The rangers dispersed, except Zhane who stayed on the bridge to begin the list. As Ashley made her way down the corridor, she felt the sleeve of her jacket being pulled gently in the opposite direction. She looked back, finding a concerned looking Cassie behind her.

"What did he say?" Cassie asked softly.

Ashley lowered her eyes sadly. "He said a lot of things, Cassie," she replied with a shrug. "He told me that he loved me and then he kissed me… again."

Cassie lowered her eyes. "Ash, I'm sorry –"

But Ashley stopped her words with a shake of her head. "It's okay, Cassie," she said sincerely. "I understand why you didn't want to tell me… I mean, there was no way to know if it was real or not. You didn't want me to get hurt if it wasn't real."

"I still should have told you." Cassie sighed. "But… why did you kiss him this time?"

Ashley shrugged again. "I don't know," she decided aloud. "I've been asking myself that since it happened… I guess I still love him. I mean, I know I do. I just… it was the same, Cass. His kiss was exactly the same and I know that he meant it. I know he did."

"You know, after I saw him kiss you, I was wondering if this whole evil thing might have been fake," Cassie said. "It made sense for a minute. Maybe he was faking it so that he could get closer to Darkonda or Astronema. I wondered if that was why he didn't kill us. And he very easily could have… But after today, making T.J. fight us, I don't know what to think anymore."

"Me neither," Ashley replied. "He asked me to join him on the Dark Fortress."

Cassie was silent a moment and Ashley let her words sink in before she continued. "And he made it sound pretty good, Cass. He promised not to attack you guys anymore. He said that I wouldn't necessarily have to be evil either."

"What made you turn him down?" Cassie asked.

"It felt like a lie," she answered. "I almost wanted to believe him too. But I could've never joined him as long as he was evil. I even asked him to come back with _me_, but he wouldn't even consider it."

"You invited him back to the ship?" Cassie asked worriedly. "Ash…"

"I know," Ashley replied, closing her eyes briefly as she tried to figure out what she could have possibly been thinking to suggest such a thing to Andros. "I wasn't thinking… I just hate that we aren't together. I really miss him."

"Well, what did he say when you suggested that he come on the Megaship?"

"He said that I didn't understand," Ashley replied. "Then he said that we'd all be sorry."

Cassie draped her arm across her best friend's shoulder. "I _am_ sorry, Ash," she began. "I'm sorry things had to turn out like this."

"Me too," Ashley sighed. "I miss him so much, Cass."

"I know," Cassie replied. "We all do."

_O_O_O_O_

Andros took one last look around before he set the small box in his shaking hands back into his pocket. He let out a deep breath and teleported back to the Dark Fortress, where he knew that Astronema would be waiting for him. He had asked her a very important question, the answer to which would determine his next move in his attack against the rangers.

He lowered his eyes as he made his way slowly to the bridge of the ship, wishing that he had been able to bring Ashley with him. He had known that it would take more than lies and a kiss to convince her to join up with him, but he felt slightly better knowing that he had tried. He still loved her, he had decided almost an hour ago, whether she was with him or not.

It was better that she was not with him though, Andros thought to himself. After all, he had not discussed such a plan with Astronema beforehand and he was sure that there would have been trouble if he had just brought her to the ship unannounced. That would have caused more than just trouble; it would have caused danger for both him and Ashley. After all, he had assured Ecliptor that he had no plans to bring the Yellow Ranger onto the ship. He could only imagine what the monster would do to him if he had actually done it.

Andros finally took the last step to the doorway of the bridge and sighed softly, lifting his eyes again to scan for Astronema. When she stood from her seat to greet him, he bowed to her briefly before speaking.

"The rangers are becoming less predictable," he began. "I'm sure that you saw my attack on Earth earlier."

"I did," she replied with a nod, folding her arms. "That was over two hours ago. Where did you go?"

"I remained on Earth a while longer," Andros answered. "I found the interdimensional doorway that led to the Forest of Eternal Light."

"Why would you need to go there?" she asked, sounding more impatient with each word.

Andros reached into his pocket and produced the dorig, holding it out to her until she took it from him.

"You found another dorig?" she asked.

Andros smiled smugly. "I told you that I had a plan, my queen," he said. "And I've only just begun… Did you happen to …?"

"Yes," she interrupted, looking the small box in her hands over with an impressed smile. "The quantrons are at your disposal starting now. They know to answer to your commands from now on. I won't ask you what your plan is with them because I'm beginning to trust this secret plan of yours. But give me one reason to doubt you –"

"You'll never have a reason to doubt me," he replied quickly, bowing to her again. As he stood back up, he thought he saw Ecliptor give him a look, but he decided that Ecliptor always looked at him like that. He just didn't trust the Red Ranger yet. He was waiting for a reason to trust him, Andros thought.

"We have a dorig and the Astro Megaship is in critical condition," Astronema said. "I won't doubt you anytime soon."

Andros waited until she turned from him before leaving the bridge, making his way back to his bedroom. He stood at his doorway, staring into the dark room and quickly looking around. It was pitch black, but he could sense someone or something inside. It was a presence he had felt before and he wondered to himself if Darkonda might have been back to harass him some more.

He saw the figure move in front of his bed and he turned on the light, suddenly knowing who was there before his eyes fully adjusted to the light.

"Why are you here?" he asked.

Sadi smiled and stood from his bed, extending her hand to him. "I just thought I'd come by and reintroduce myself," she replied, putting her hand down when he glanced at it and did not take it in his. "After all, I haven't met this Andros before."

"There's a reason for that," he said, breezing past her and sitting on his bed. "Besides, I already know who _and_ _what_ you are."

"Good," Sadi said, shaking her long green hair back from her face and sitting back down on the bed. "So, did you miss me as much as I missed you?"

"I really haven't thought about you one way or another," he replied nonchalantly.

"That's not true," she said softly, leaning her head against his shoulder and running her fingers slowly down his chest.

Andros grabbed her wrist before it reached his stomach and held onto it tightly. "Why are you _here_?" he asked firmly.

"I wanted to see you," she answered, seemingly not fazed by his tone of voice or the murderous look in his eyes. In fact, she seemed more enamored with him. "Once I heard what you did to the rangers, I started thinking… maybe we should start over. I mean, you and I never really got a good chance to know one another. Haven't you ever wondered what could've happened if we had stayed together?"

"Not really, no," Andros answered honestly, releasing her. "We were 'together' for one night. Just one… and you made it very clear that you didn't want anything to do with me after that. So why would I waste time wondering about you and me?"

"I wonder about it," she said softly, nuzzling her head into his neck and kissing it. When he made no move to push her away or stop her, she kissed his neck again. Then his cheek… then his lips. She looked at him, trying to analyze the look on his face when she kissed his lips, but his face was practically blank as though he were someplace else at the moment.

She tried for his lips again, but he finally pulled away from her and frowned in thought. "I need something from you," he said, suddenly making eye contact with her.

"I don't know where the Rebels are," Sadi said quickly, rolling her eyes in annoyance.

"That's not what I want from you," Andros replied. "I already know that information… I need something else from you –two somethings, actually."

"Why should I?" she asked, batting her flirtatious eyes at him.

Andros smiled a little and kissed her lips lightly. "Because any favors you do for me will be greatly appreciated," he said. "And I will make sure that you are properly rewarded afterward."

Sadi blushed a bit as she cleared her throat. "What do you need?" she asked.


	50. Chapter 50

Ch 50

"I'm at a loss for words," Principal Caplan said, shaking his head. "You were all top students last year. You were involved in sports and clubs and your grades had put you in the top twenty of your graduating class. And now…"

"What Mr. Caplan is trying to say is," Ms. Liedel, the school counselor, began as the principal stopped pacing and sat down at his desk. "Well… we want you to know that we're here to get your side of things. We're almost positive that given your background, you'd never leave school for so long without a good excuse. So please, tell us –"

"Tell us why you've thrown your futures away," Principal Caplan interrupted. "Never have I seen such a –"

"Mr. Caplan," Ms. Liedel said firmly. "If we're going to give them an opportunity to speak, then we have to actually _let_ _them_ _speak_… Now, whenever you're ready."

The teens looked to the ground. They had expected an admonishment for their lengthy and unexcused school absences, but they had not thought that the principal would be involved. However, it had been almost over a month since they had last been in school and they knew that trouble was waiting for them as soon as they set foot in the door, just not this much.

They glanced at each other, knowing that their silence was far from helpful to them. But how could they admit to being Power Rangers that had spent the last month flying through space outside of teleportation range of Earth? Or rather, how could they explain it and not be declared insane or liars? Besides, Zordon's orders were to tell no one of their powers. How could they break the biggest rule of all?

The rangers remained silent and Principal Caplan nodded.

"I had a feeling that you might hesitate telling us the truth," he said. "That's why I took it upon myself to bring in a few people who might be more successful in getting answers from you."

"Oh, no," Ashley whispered, knowing what was coming as Principal Caplan buzzed his secretary.

Within a few seconds, the door to the principal's office swung open and the rangers' parents filed into the room.

T.J. looked up at his father, sighing softly as he made his way over to him. "Dad, I can explain," T.J. began, though he wasn't sure how he could possibly explain.

Mr. Johnson continued to frown at his son, looking down at him with his arms folded. "Then, start explaining," he said firmly. "Because you're giving up an awful lot of opportunities to do whatever you've been doing. You could've been at the top of the list for any baseball scholarship in the country, but you know that grades are just as important as your batting average."

"I know, Dad," T.J. replied softly. He could not think of anything to say. After all, he had no idea how to begin.

Cassie's parents were already cutting into her.

"How could you do this, Cassie?" Mrs. Chan was saying to her. "Your grades have never been perfect, but to think that you would go so far to get out of school."

"Cassie, we agreed to help you give your music career a chance by moving close to Stone Canyon," Mr. Chan added. "In exchange, you promised to get your grades up and we _hoped_ that you would keep them that way."

"But I –" Cassie started, stopped when her parents interrupted.

"I should've suspected something was wrong when you kept asking to spend nights at your friends' houses," her mother continued. "You never came home. We trusted you… "

"You haven't even been practicing with your band," Mr. Chan sighed. "They said you haven't made it to practice in almost five months. So what is it exactly that you want to do? If you're done with music _and_ school, what else is left?"

Cassie sank down into her seat and said nothing, glancing over at Carlos. She had noticed that he and his mother were the only two people not talking or arguing. In fact, Mrs. Vallerte wasn't even looking at her son. She stared down silently and sadly at her hands, while Carlos sat somberly across from where she stood. Every now and again, he would look up at her and sigh when he received no eye contact, looking back down at the floor again.

Ashley had just barely noticed everything going on around her as her parents started in on her.

"It's that Andros, isn't it?" Mrs. Hammond asked. "He got you all into something dangerous, didn't he? As soon as you asked us to cover his hospital bill I knew he would be trouble, especially when we never got to meet him. What did he get you into?"

"Nothing, Mom," Ashley answered honestly. "This really doesn't have anything to do with Andros." She wasn't sure how honest that part of her statement was, but technically Andros had nothing to do with her missing so much school. Had she or any of the others brought it to Zhane's attention, then she was sure that he would have found a way to get them back to Earth.

"How can we believe that?" Mr. Hammond asked, shaking his head. "How can we believe anything you say anymore? You've already lied to us this long, and who knows how many times you've lied to us before that?"

A lot, Ashley thought to herself. She had lied to them more times than she could count. And it was always to keep her parents from getting wind of her ranger duties. Suddenly, the secret didn't seem worth it and she knew that the others suddenly felt the same way.

Mr. Caplan cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "I usually try not to involve parents without first attempting to work out something with the students to help them improve their work. But in this case, based on the number of days and overall schoolwork missed, two options were given to me on how to handle you four –you could either fail your senior year and take it over next year or face expulsion from Angel Grove High."

"Mr. Caplan, no!" Ashley nearly shouted, tears stinging her eyes. "Please. There has to be something else we can do."

"There is," Ms. Liedel replied. "After weighing both options, your teachers all agree that there's still enough time for you to catch up if you work extra hard. So, I believe it's possible for you to graduate with the rest of your class. You all had gym in your curriculum and a free period at the end of the day. If you're willing to attend a special study hall during those times, then you can take all your make-up exams and do your overdue homework assignments before the end of the year."

"Thank you, Ms. Liedel," the teens said gratefully.

"Yes, thank you," Mrs. Hammond said. "We'll make sure that Ashley completes her assignments on time and that she attends every class no matter what."

"I trust that you will," Principal Caplan replied. "Anymore unexcused absences are grounds for immediate expulsion. I sincerely hope it won't come to that… Now, I expect you to go to every class today. Your teachers have your assignments ready for you. Please don't disappoint us."

The teens nodded and almost immediately an all too familiar warble and chirp filled the office. The teens looked down nervously at their communicators and then at each other as the sound filled the room again.

Mr. Caplan took a step toward them and held out his hand. "I'm not sure what those things are, but I know that I'm tired of hearing them. It seems to be an ongoing problem every year. You kids and your beepers and cell phones… I'll be holding onto these until the end of the day, if you don't mind."

Ashley was about to protest, but her father spoke for her and the others first. "That sounds fair," he said firmly, quieting Ashley.

_O_O_O_O_

"Why aren't they answering?" Aeden asked, firing his Astro Blaster at an increasing group of quantrons in front of him.

He, Esson, and Zhane had been informed by DECA that a group of quantrons was attacking Earth, but they had not been prepared for fifty quantrons swarming Angel Grove Park. They were actually causing quite a bit of damage at the moment. Surprisingly, they had been given a massive upgrade in weaponry and were firing at the rangers with rather sophisticated large blasters of their own. More than a few times, the quantrons had gained the upper hand during their fight and once the rangers realized exactly what they were dealing with, Zhane had asked DECA twice to call the others, but they had not responded yet.

"They're still in school," Zhane explained, using his Silver Silverizer to strike at the quantrons that had tried to sneak up behind him. "They can't get out of class right away unless the danger is there and school is dismissed."

"I told you that you shouldn't have brought on rangers that were still in school," he heard amongst the buzzing quantrons. Zhane looked around, finding Andros sitting on the edge of a statue in the center of the park's fountain.

"I certainly told Ashley that," Andros continued with a small smile.

"I remember," Zhane replied, clashing his weapon's blade with three quantrons' weapons. He was being pushed back by them until he lifted his foot and pushed back against one quantron, making the others fall back with him.

"Where _is_ Ashley, by the way?" Andros asked. "I didn't think she'd pass up an opportunity to fight me again."

"It doesn't take all of us to beat you," Aeden said, blocking an attack from a small group of quantrons and picking him up to throw him into six others.

"That's not how I remember our first fight," Andros retorted. "Besides, Zhane and I know well that it'll take more than two or three rangers to beat this many quantrons."

Esson made his way to Zhane, sending down the quantrons behind him with a flying back kick and multiple shots from his blaster. At least half of them were down, giving Aeden room to make his way to the others as well.

"How long do you think we'll last on our own?" Aeden asked softly as the quantrons stood up again and surrounded them. "Twenty of these guys –we might be able to handle, but fifty? We need some help out here."

"We can handle this," Zhane said firmly, switching his Silver Silverizer from Blade Mode to Blaster Mode. "Anyway, it's not like we have much of a choice if the others haven't responded yet."

The rangers all fired on the quantrons at the same time, but with every set of quantrons that fell, at least ten more stepped forward to take their places.

"Why don't you fight us yourself, coward?" Zhane shouted to Andros over the sounds of the blasters and angry quantrons.

"Why would I waste my energy in a fight with only three rangers?" Andros answered. "Believe me, I can't wait to fight you again… In fact, I hope that the next time I see you guys, you'll give me a fight worth talking about like you did yesterday. I was almost proud of you. It's too bad you wimped out at the last second."

"We showed you more mercy than you deserved," Esson said just as his weapon was knocked from his hand by a quantron's blaster.

"I suppose we can thank you for the new weapons we're up against," Zhane said, shooting his blaster at Andros and missing. He waited for return fire, but Andros remained still, just watching the fight. Zhane knew that Andros wasn't going to be bullied into this battle. "You didn't trust that fifty quantrons alone would be a good enough challenge for us?"

"You know me too well," Andros replied, shaking his head. "But to be honest, I don't see this as much of a challenge for you. After all, you wouldn't be struggling so much if you would just call your friends. In fact, it would be too easy for you. I'll have to remember that next time."

With that, Andros and the mountain of quantrons disappeared and the park was deadly silent. The rangers listened for a moment, waiting. The fight had lasted ten to fifteen minutes, tops. They doubted seriously if it was over so soon. But after waiting in silence for a minute or so, they decided that it really was over now and they teleported back to the ship.

As soon as they returned, Aeden walked past Esson and Zhane silently and went straight to the infirmary to see Rae. Zhane and Esson stood in the front of the jumptubes for a moment, neither of them sure of what to say. They both knew that the fight had been a disaster and that, had it gone on any longer, they would have been defeated without help from the other rangers. They knew this would be the first of many fights like that. But eventually, Esson was able to think of the one thing that they didn't know at the moment.

"I wonder why the others didn't answer," Esson wondered aloud. "Even if they were in class, they still would have had a second to let us know that they wouldn't be able to make it, right?"

"Maybe," Zhane said hesitantly. After all, he had known the rangers for longer than a while now and he knew that they were very willing to drop anything and everything, including school, to help with a monster attack or whatever ranger duties they had. If they weren't answering, maybe something was wrong. Andros might have…

He shook his head to himself. Andros had been just as surprised to see the other rangers not there, he recalled. Something else was going on.

"DECA," Zhane called out. "Try to contact the rangers again."

"Attempting contact now," DECA responded.

It was quiet while they waited for a response, but minutes passed and they heard nothing back from the rangers.

"DECA, try to pinpoint their location," Esson ordered, starting to get a little worried about Cassie.

"The rangers are on Earth in Angel Grove," DECA reported after a few seconds. "They are currently attending class at Angel Grove High School and are without their communicators."

"Without their communicators?" Zhane repeated. "Why would they be without them?"

"I'm sure they'll explain when they get back to the ship," Esson replied, motioning for Zhane to follow him out of the workbay. "In the meantime, let's train on the Simudeck for a while. It'll give us something to do while we wait for them to contact us."

"After fighting all those quantrons, you want to train?" Zhane asked incredulously.

"I don't think I've ever had trouble with that many quantrons before," Esson replied. "With or without the others, we should have been able to handle that fight. We almost couldn't… I think I need to train as much as possible."

"Just an hour or so for me," Zhane said as they entered the Megalift. "I'm already pretty drained. Then, I think I'll get back to work on the thruster."

Esson nodded.

More than an hour passed while the two rangers trained on the Simudeck. Eventually, training had turned into a contest between them and they were soon joined by Aeden, who returned with the news that Rae had woken up. Finally, after they had tired themselves out, Zhane decided that it was imperative that he begin working on the thruster. They really needed their Hyper Rush Velocity as soon as possible and he had only had a chance the day before to make the list of items needed. The others had gathered what they could find in the engine room and Zhane still had to sort through them first. But before he could get a chance, DECA's alarms sounded throughout the ship.

"What is it, DECA?" Zhane asked.

"Andros and a group of armed quantrons are terrorizing Angel Grove."

Zhane shook his head to himself, knowing that he would never get used to hearing 'Andros' and 'terrorizing' in the same sentence.

"Notify the others," Zhane called as he ran to the workbay, meeting Esson and Aeden at the jumptubes before morphing and riding their galaxy gliders to Angel Grove.

The rangers whooshed through the quantrons, knocking as many of them down as possible. There were just as many this time as there were last time and things started out the same way they had earlier. As they had expected, the rest of the teens were not there when they arrived and the quantrons used their new weapons to gain the advantage fairly quickly.

Zhane was the first to be knocked off his glider, where Andros stood waiting with a smile as the Red Battlized Ranger. He quickly grabbed up Zhane with both hands, wondering where the fighting spirit he and the other rangers had shown him had disappeared. The last time they had fought him all together, they had easily overpowered him. Now, not only were they not fighting together, but they were also close to losing. Why would the rangers suddenly split into groups like this?

"How am I supposed to destroy you all at once if you don't fight together?" Andros asked, tossing him carelessly into the quantrons.

Zhane groaned as his body hit the ground hard. He removed his Astro Blaster as quick as he could as a majority of the quantrons descended on him and he fired wildly until there was room for him to stand. By then, Aeden was by his side firing Stellar Flare blasts into the horde of quantrons. Zhane ducked several swipes from the quantrons' weapons and continued to fire his blaster.

Esson had been faring better than the other two rangers until Andros noticed that the Phantom Ranger was flying through the quantrons on the red galaxy glider. Andros held out a hand, his palm facing the glider, and slowed the glider's speed using telekinesis. He used a boost of power from his Battlizer to move the glider at a wildly increasing speed higher into the air before bringing it down to the ground at an even faster rate and crashing it into the pavement as hard as he could. It did not even matter that he had noticed Phantom Ranger turning invisible just before the glider lifted into the sky, reappearing unharmed several feet away after it crashed.

"So if you can't have the glider, no one can?" Esson asked Andros, running toward him and firing his weapon.

An automatic shield protected Andros from the blasts and he smirked. "What can I say," he said with a shrug. "I don't like other people touching my stuff."

Andros made a dash for him and Phantom Ranger quickly became invisible again, charging through the quantrons that had begun to surround him again. He was able to take most of them down, but there were still too many of them. As long as he remained invisible though, he still had an advantage over them and perhaps even over Andros. However, every time he glanced back at Andros, even when he wasn't colliding with quantrons, he had a feeling that his brother could still see him.

Finally, Esson stopped moving long enough to realize that while Andros might have been able to see him, he had not reached him yet. That was when he noticed Andros standing, not far from where he had been earlier, with his hand pressed firmly against his head as though he were in pain. Esson took a step forward before thinking twice about it and turning around to help Aeden and Zhane.

"Guys, we need to end this," Aeden called over his shoulder as he flipped a quantrons onto its back and brought down the other quantrons closing in on him with a roundhouse kick.

"I'm open to any ideas," Zhane called back, firing at the endless mountain of quantrons with his Silverizer.

"Well, last time we just had to wait for Andros to make them disappear," Esson said. "And last time I saw him, he didn't look too good."

They all turned around briefly to see if it was true. After all, a few minutes had passed and they had not even heard Andros amongst the infinite noises attempting to taunt them or attack them. They had not heard anything and they wondered if he might have lost interest in the fight. He had said just an hour or so earlier that he would not want to waste energy in a fight with only three rangers. Maybe he had already left Angel Grove and gone back to the Dark Fortress to plan for another attack.

The quantrons did not give them a chance to see much of anything, but they thought they had caught a glimpse of Andros speaking with someone with a long green ponytail. Out of the corner of his eye, Aeden saw Andros reach his arm into the air and snap, disappearing from view with the green-haired female and the entire group of quantrons.

The rangers walked toward each other, realizing just how far apart they had been from one another while they had been fighting. They tried to recall if it had happened in the previous fight. But it was hard to know if there was really any motive behind anything that Andros had the quantron do and they all knew that there likely would not be much time for them to figure anything out before the next attack.

_O_O_O_O_O_

Ashley sighed once again as she looked down at her math homework, the work she had missed and the work that was due the next day. She knew that it would be easy enough, just like the rest of her homework had been. There was just too much of it. Literature, Pre-calculus, Biology, Sociology, and Spanish… There was just too much to catch up on.

She knew that was not the reason that she was sighing. It would take time to catch up, but she knew that she could do it. Her teachers would never have allowed her or the others to try if it were not possible. That she was sure of. Her problem now was that she was at home. Normally, the thought of being at home would make her very happy, but there was a certain loss of appeal when she found out that she was grounded. Her parents had told her before leaving the principal's office that she was to go straight home and they waited for her at the front door, immediately demanding more of an explanation than she had tried to give hours earlier. Only they seemed to not want to hear anything she tried to say as they continually interrupted everything she said, finally telling her that she was grounded.

She was sent to her room to begin her homework almost an hour ago and she was almost finished now, except for math. Her parents had checked her room only minutes ago, in an attempt to keep an eye on her. They had said more than once since she had been home that they no longer trusted her and that it would take time before they ever could again. Ashley sighed at the thought.

She turned her attention to her work again, taking out a fresh sheet of paper and preparing to do the twenty or so problems in her book. Suddenly, her communicator beeped and she jumped a little before she answered it.

"Ashley? Are you there?" she heard Zhane ask uncertainly.

"Yeah, it's me," she answered. "Is everything okay, Zhane?"

"That's what I wanted to know," he replied. "I mean, DECA said that you guys didn't have your communicators or morphers all day long. Andros sent down quantrons twice today and I just wanted to make sure that he didn't hurt you."

"We're all fine," Ashley heard T.J. answer. Zhane must have called everyone else too. "We're just –"

"Grounded," Cassie finished with a sigh. "We got in trouble with our parents and school for missing too many days of class. My parents told me that I'm grounded until next year… and I don't think they're kidding."

"Sorry, guys," Zhane said. "You told me a long time ago that you needed to stay close enough to Earth so that you could keep going to school. It's just this whole thing with Andros…"

"This wasn't your fault," Ashley assured him. "We could have found a way to go to school, but we didn't. Actually, we didn't miss that many days anyway."

"Yeah," T.J. agreed. "I mean, I think we might have missed a few weeks. Our teachers think that we can catch up to the rest of our class before finals. It's no big deal, really."

"So, what are you going to do?" Zhane asked. "You won't be able to do any ranger business while you're trying to catch up, right?"

"Are you kidding?" Cassie exclaimed. "As soon as I finish some of this homework, I'm heading back to the ship."

"Me too," T.J. said.

"That was my plan," Ashley said.

There was a pause. "Carlos?" Zhane asked. "You still there?"

"Yeah," Carlos answered despondently.

"You _are_ coming back, aren't you?" Cassie asked when Carlos added nothing else to his reply.

"Of course," he sighed. "I'm just trying to figure out what I'm going to do, that's all."

"Just sneak out," Ashley suggested. "We'll probably all have to. Our parents are pretty mad."

"No," Carlos replied. "If I leave my house tonight, it'll be through my front door."

"Unless your mom is blocking the front door," T.J. said. "I doubt that she'll just let you go."

"That's just it," Carlos said sadly. "My mom hasn't said much of anything to me since this morning at school. Even then, all she asked was that I come home after school. She's not ignoring me, but she's talking to me like I'm a stranger now… I don't think I've ever seen her so mad at me. She wouldn't care if I walked out the door tonight or any other night. I think she's just, I don't know, she's just done with me."

"She'll get over it, Carlos," Cassie said softly. "Just like all our parents will. They just need time."

"You don't know my mom," Carlos answered, a little anger creeping into his voice. "And I can't count on her 'getting over it'. She'll stay mad at me until I stop lying to her… and I'm not going to anymore."

"Meaning what?" T.J. inquired.

"Meaning that I'm going to spend an hour or so finishing my homework and then I'm going to tell my mom everything –where I've been all this time, why I lied, why it'll probably happen again…"

"You can't do that," Ashley exclaimed. "Zordon told us –"

"Zordon's not here!" Carlos let in a breath before lowering his voice and beginning again. "Zordon isn't here to dole out any punishments for not doing the thing he asked us to do but not anyone else."

"What are you talking about?" Ashley asked.

"He asked us not to reveal our identities to anyone," Carlos explained. "But he obviously didn't ask any other rangers in the universe to do the same. Not the rangers on Aquitar, KO-35, or anywhere else. So why just us?"

"Because the Aquitians aren't human," Zhane answered. "Most other rangers in the universe aren't. And the few groups that are have public searches and training for aspiring rangers. On KO-35, anyone who wanted to be a ranger was screened carefully because of the prophecy of an evil red ranger. So they made sure to keep tabs on any trainees who specifically went after the red ranger power."

"But even if there hadn't been a prophecy, you still would have been able to tell your parents, right?" Carlos asked.

"Well… yeah, I guess so," Zhane said.

Carlos let out a sigh of relief. "See? There's no reason why we can't let our parents know that we're rangers… I'm tired of lying to my mom. She's been really good about not questioning any of the lies that I told her in the past. She just told me to be safe and call her after school. But if she knew where I really went every day, she might –"

"Worry about you more," Ashley finished for him. "If you tell your mom, she might not want you to do it anymore. After all, being a ranger is dangerous. What if she tells you that you can't be a ranger anymore?"

"Guys, no offense, but I'm not asking for your permission," Carlos said. "Before the night is gone, my mother will know exactly where I'm going and why. She can either accept it or not. Either way, my conscience will be clear and the truth will finally be out."

"What if she tells someone?" Cassie asked.

"She won't do that," he replied. "Of course, I'll tell her that no one else can know. So don't worry, your secrets are still safe from your parents… But I want you to think about this and only this: how great would it be to walk out your front door and not have to make up a lie about where you're going for the next several hours? Not just how great it would be, but how _easy_ it would be for us."

"No, not easy," T.J. said. "We'd still have to lie if we had to leave school early –to our teachers and our classmates. Either that, or we ask our parents to carry the burden of lying to our teachers and Principal Caplan about where we're going. How is that 'easy' for them?"

"Look, I didn't say everything would be easier," Carlos said. "Just things at home… Trust me, if I could trust all our teachers not to tell reporters or anyone like that, I would tell _them_ too. But the urge to get famous for knowing the identities of the Power Rangers would be too tempting. Someday, we might be able to tell them, but my main concern is how to deal with my mom hating me. It's more important to me than what Zordon or the A.D.A. Galactic Force will do when they find out that I told people my identity… So, all I'll say before this conversation is over is good luck if you tell your parents like I will and good luck if you decide to sneak out instead."

There was a short beep that sounded as Carlos cut off communication between him and the others. Ashley and the others sat in a stunned silence as they each contemplated what they were going to do as far as their parents were concerned. Only Zhane was willing to break the silence, though all he could think to say before cutting off communications was, "See you guys back on the ship in a couple of hours."

A couple of hours.

Only a couple of hours to decide whether or not they were willing to change their lives at home completely. This decision would not be as easy as Carlos made it seem, Ashley thought to herself as she settled back into her homework again. Her parents had barely wanted her to be a cheerleader when they suddenly remembered that some cheerleaders get hurt doing flips and that there was a chance she could fall from the top of the human pyramid. They had wanted her to quit cheerleading until Ashley had asked her coach to explain to her parents how slim a chance it was that either of things would happen. If they could get so worked up over something so small, how would they react when they found out that she risked her life every other day as a Power Ranger?

On the other hand, shortly after meeting Andros, he had brought up Justin being a Turbo Ranger, asking what they would have told his parents if something had happened to him. The truth was, then and especially now, that she didn't know what she could possibly have said. The first thing that would have happened is they would have had to tell Justin's dad that he was a ranger, something that he probably would have deserved to hear from his own son. And if anything happened to her, her parents would likely be angry that Ashley had lied to them about everything for so long, that she had been risking her life without telling them, or maybe just sad that their daughter felt more comfortable lying to them constantly than telling them the truth just once.

No, this was not an easy decision by a long shot.


End file.
